Two Gandhis: Not all heroes are universally adored

When President Pranab Mukherjee of India visited Ghana in June, he came bearing what he thought was an irresistible gift. To symbolize the friendship between the two countries, Mukherjee gifted the University of Ghana with a statue of Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi. The Indian president assumed that the two decades Gandhi lived in South Africa a century ago would generate goodwill thousands of miles away in West Africa today.

It didn’t. Last month, professors at the University of Ghana called for the statue’s removal from campus on the grounds that Gandhi, revered around the world for the successful nonviolent anti-colonial protests against the British, exhibited a condescending attitude toward black South Africans.

Gandhi was quoted many times referring to black South Africans as “Kaffirs” — a racist term not only in that country but across the continent. He also boasted of the racial superiority of Indians over black Africans. Ironically, he referred to black Africans as “heathens” while making a case for the humanity of Indians. Much later, he changed his mind and admitted he had been wrong to refer to black Africans as barbarians.

Gandhi may have evolved in his thinking, but more than 1,000 students and faculty signed the petition to have the statue removed. Ghanaian officials are willing to relocate the statue for its own protection, but are reluctant to return it to the Indians for fear it will hurt bilateral relations.

In America, Gandhi’s name is still magic. Americans have a hard time separating a sentimental view of the Indian leader’s goodness from the sordid reality of his early life. Ghanaians and other Africans don’t. They already have a rich array of anti-colonial freedom fighters they can honor who didn’t have to “evolve” into seeing their humanity. They don’t need Gandhi. He didn’t lead their revolution. Ghana is not the right context for Gandhi adoration.

While relations between Ghana and India may be initially strained by this contretemps, things will eventually settle down to normal. Both countries have a lot to gain from a partnership based on mutual respect and attention to the historical record. Like every hero who has ever lived, Gandhi had feet of clay. Heroes aren’t called to be infallible saints. They are only required to step up in the name of justice despite whatever moral baggage they carry. That’s what Gandhi did. We can all learn from that.

(Tribune Content Agency/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Editorial