The present Wayne Kublalsingh spectacle in front the offices of the Prime Minister has drawn not only cheap media copy but also attracted opposition politicians and even a few "has been" ones.
Only a few commentators have been to the south land where the affected people have expressed their views. They live in the catchment area and some will have their property acquired. But they support the view that the highway, as presently conceived, be completed expeditiously. These are the people whose opinions carry political weight. Not Kublalsingh and other hangers-on who live outside of the affected catchment.
Some politicians, former politicians and media commentators have attempted to describe Kublalsingh's antics as Gandhian in nature because it was Mahatma Gandhi who popularised the fast unto death principle as a political weapon.
The period immediately after India and Pakistan were created by division of the sub-continent of India in 1947, brought death and mayhem to millions of Hindus and Muslims. This drove the Mahatma, at a home in Calcutta, a long distance from the political capital, New Delhi, to undertake a fast unto death to bring sanity back to the sub-continent.
Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, and most of his Cabinet ministers travelled to Calcutta to persuade the Mahatma to discontinue his fast as both the newly formed India government and even the Pakistan government where moving to bring a halt to violence and a return to stability. History will show that this "fast" incident involving the Mahatma was one of the world's historical moments.
Dr Wayne Kublalsingh is no Mahatma Gandhi. In his book History of Hinduism-Christian Encounters, Sita Ram Goel describes the man Mahatma Gandhi and efforts by his Christians friends in South Africa to convert him to Christianity. Goel writes "Not only his Christian but also Muslim friends were trying to convert him. He wanted to know more about Hinduism.
He presented his problem to Raychandbhai, his mentor in India, and corresponded with other religious authorities in India." Raychandbhai assured him that "no other religion has the subtle and profound thought of Hinduism, its vision of the soul, or its charity." Thus Gandhiji "took a path which my Christian friends had not intended."
The convention (to which he was invited) lasted for three days and Gandhiji "appreciated the devoutness of those who attended it." But he "saw no reason for changing my belief in my religion." He found it impossible "to believe that I could go to heaven or attain salvation only by becoming a Christian." He made a frank confession of his doubts to his Christian friends who "were shocked."
The convention helped Gandhiji make up his mind about Christianity. He adhered to these views for the rest of his life. "My difficulties," he writes, "lay deeper. It was more than I could believe that Jesus was the only incarnate son of God, and that only he who believed in him would have everlasting life. If God could have sons, all of us were his sons. If Jesus was like God or God Himself, then all men were like God and could be God Himself.
"My reason was not ready to believe literally that Jesus by his death and by his blood redeemed the sins of the world. Metaphorically there might be some truth in it. Again, according to Christianity only human beings had souls, and not other living beings, for whom death meant complete extinction, while I held a contrary view. I could accept Jesus as a martyr, as an embodiment of sacrifice and a divine teacher, but not as the most perfect man ever born.
"His death on the cross was a great example to the world, but that there was anything like a mysterious or miraculous virtue in it, my heart could not accept. The pious lives of Christians did not give me anything that the lives of men of other faiths had failed to give. I had seen in other lives just the same reformation that I had heard of among the Christians.
"Philosophically there was nothing extraordinary in Christian principles. From the point of view of sacrifice, it seemed that the Hindus greatly surpassed Christians. It was impossible for me to regard Christianity as a perfect religion or the greatest of all religions."
He continued to read books written by Christians and also to correspond with Christian friends in England. He found that some exponents of Christianity did not adhere to Christian theology and took a broader and deeper view of Jesus and his message. He started moving away from Christianity as preached by the missionaries. The missionaries, however, refused to give him up as a bad job when he moved to Durban.
During his period in South Africa, Gandhiji started attending the Wesleyan Church every Sunday. But he found the sermons "uninspiring" and the congregation "worldly-minded people who went to church for recreation and in conformity to custom."
• Satnarayan Maharaj
Secretary General
Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha