When Gandhi?s thoughts mesmerised Nobel laureate Tinberjen

HE IS dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi and has been propagating Gandhian philosophy for over six decades. He started wearing khadi when he was a student of intermediate class and even today one can find him using khadi. He produced khadi yarn with charkha and presented garments made of the yarn produced by him to his father and other relatives.

HE IS dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi and has been propagating Gandhian philosophy for over six decades. He started wearing khadi when he was a student of intermediate class and even today one can find him using khadi. He produced khadi yarn with charkha and presented garments made of the yarn produced by him to his father and other relatives.

HT Image

Professor JS Mathur, director of the Basant Bihari Jai Rani Foundation for Peace Studies and former director of the Institute of Gandhian Thought and Peace Studies and former Head of the Department of Commerce and Business Administration, has been regularly organising essay and painting contests on Gandhi every year. Hundreds of students participate in these contests.

Besides, he has the rare collections of books and journals on Gandhi, including 'Harijan' and 'Young India' which were edited by the 'Father of the Nation' himself. Besides, hundreds of cartoons and stamps relating to the 'messiah of truth and non-violence' are available with him. To make these invaluable articles more useful, he wants to donate these articles to the Allahabad Museum.

The 79-year-old Prof Mathur had always been an outstanding student. His love for khadi can be gauged by the fact that when he was to be awarded the degree of D Litt in 1964, he got a khadi gown stitched to receive it.

A well-read and widely-travelled Prof Mathur has authored several books and written numerous articles in national and international journals on Mahatma Gandhi's life, thoughts and approach towards social, economic and political aspects of the society. His books and articles have been lauded not only in India but also in many other countries.

The excerpts of the interview:
In Netherlands, I met Prof Goring, who was known as the 'Father of the Peace Movement' in Europe. He wanted to know about Gandhi's impact in India and I replied: None. Then I asked about the impact of his efforts in Europe and he also said: "None." Then I asked why was he still engaged in his mission and he said that some day his idea might click. And I was quick to add that the same was the approach of mine.

During my interaction with Nobel laureate and renowned economist Prof J Tinberjen in Netherlands, he asked whether Gandhi had also written something on economics. I showed him my book 'Economic thought of Mahatma Gandhi'. He was greatly impressed and later wrote a foreword for the second edition of the book. The foreword for the first edition of the book was written by the former Congress president Acharya JB Kriplani.

In 1972, Acharya JB Kriplani came to Allahabad to attend the Gandhi Jayanti function and stayed at my home. We started discussing the political affairs of the country. In the meantime, my children also joined us. Kriplani was such a great statesman that he told me: "We should not criticise the Prime Minister before children."

I can never forget the help provided by VV Giri, the Late President of India, to me on many occasions. When he was the Governor of UP, he helped me in getting my book 'Economic thought of Mahatma Gandhi' published. There were obstacles because of the copyright of the Navjivan Trust, Ahmedabad, on Gandhi's writings. Giri Saheb removed the hurdles and facilitated the publication.

Later, he even attended the Gandhi Bhawan function when he was Vice-President and visited my residence. During his tenure as President, I, along with my wife and kids visited Mughal Garden on the Rashtrapati Bhawan premises.

Despite his busy schedule (he was leaving for Sri Lanka the same day) he gave us some time and instructed his staff to take our care. Giri Saheb also wrote foreword for my book 'Trade Union Movement in India.'

Once, we invited Mother Teresa to address the Gandhi Jayanti function. AU could not get any reply to its first letter but I wrote another letter to her and she agreed and the then AU Vice-Chancellor Ram Sahai was so happy to get her acceptance that he sent me to Calcutta to meet her before the function. During my talks with her she said: "I don't know, how and why I accepted the invitation?" I said to her that might be it was by the grace of God and the wish of Gandhiji.

Late Prime Minister Morarji Desai visited Allahabad in early 80s and stayed at my residence. After attending the function at Gandhi Bhawan, he addressed a public meeting organised by the then Janata Party leaders at PD Tandon Park. When he reached railway station, he saw that the train was already moving. However, this did not deter the 85-year-old man to run and board the train. The next day local newspapers carried the story with title 'Morarji is still young'.