'I dreaded meeting him these days because every time he'd say: We have to fight this government, even if it means going to jail.'
'He'd been in jails run by the British, he'd also been in jails in independent India, now he was ready to go to jail under this government.'
"For youngsters like us, GG was a living link to the freedom movement." -- Vinod Raut, Mumbai chief of bureau, Sakal newspaper.
A host of speakers from the Socialist movement paid tribute at the Mumbai University convocation hall to Dr G G Parikh, freedom fighter, Socialist and Gandhian who passed away on October 2, aged 101.
These included those who run the Yusuf Meherally Centre, set up in Panvel by Dr Parikh in 1962 as a Gandhian experiment in village self sufficiency as well as heads of institutions created by the Socialist movement in Maharashtra, a state that used to be a Socialist bastion. The cooperative chain of stores -- Apna Bazar, Apna Sahakari Bank -- were some of these institutions."
What set this memorial meet apart from those normally held for Gandhians were the tributes paid by young speakers who'd met GG as he was popularly known, and come away awed not just by his intellectual breadth but also by the easy rapport he established with them.
"I went to meet him for 15 minutes," recalled Raut, "and ended up staying for two hours. He talked about everything: The political situation, global warming, the state of the media..." GG was very troubled by the turn the country had taken after 2014, but he was hopeful too, Raut added.
The actions of the youth who had managed to enter Parliament and shouted slogans there in 2023 had made him "feel positive that the youth would rebel."
Fahad Ahmed, NCP (SP) youth leader, remembered his surprise when he first saw GG. "I was at the anti-CAA NRC protest in Mumbai's August Kranti Maidan in December 2019. GG was among the first to be there, in a wheelchair. I was spellbound. For people of my age, to even see a freedom fighter was a big thing."
Fahad encountered GG many times after that in meetings, and never stopped marveling at the way he connected with young activists. "I'm 34, and I find it difficult to talk to 16 year olds. Here was a 95 year old asking us what we felt, discussing what role activists should play."
"When a youth aged 101 passes away, we're bound to feel sad," said Tushar Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi's great-grandson, adding that he wouldn't describe the evening as a memorial meeting but as one held to celebrate GG's life.
"I dreaded meeting him these days," he said further, "because every time he'd say: We have to fight this government, even if it means going to jail. He'd been in jails run by the British, he'd also been in jails under independent India (during the Emergency), now he was ready to go to jail under this government."
Recalling August 9, 2023, the day the Mumbai police stopped Tushar Gandhi at his home in Santacruz, northwest Mumbai, from proceeding to August Kranti Maidan where he and others were to commemorate the Quit India Movement under GG's leadership (this was an annual homage that GG used to pay), Gandhi said: "When I was told that GG's car had also been stopped by the police, I sent a message to those with him to make sure he didn't get out of the car. I was sure he'd step out and tell the police: 'Arrest me'."
This meeting should have been held inside jail, said Gandhi, for GG's spirit must today be with Sonam Wangchuk in Jodhpur jail.
Even a day before he passed away, said Gandhi, he was asking them about how much they had managed to walk during the 'Nafrat Chhodo Savidhan Bachao' Yatra that they had taken out, an idea that he had suggested. "The loss of such an inspiration will be difficult to fill," said Gandhi.
"GG was there with us in all the movements we launched, whether the Narmada Bachao Andolan or the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan in Mumbai, guiding us all the time," recalled well known activist Medha Patkar.
Describing him as a true "samajwadi (Socialist), not a sattawadi (one who runs after power) as many Socialists had become", Patkar said that GG had come to the conclusion that party politics was not going to bring about change; only working among the people would do so. The way to change lay in Jan Andolan or people's movements, he would say.
More than one speaker recalled Einstein's words about Gandhi: 'Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth and said that for the post-Independence generation, these words applied to GG.
Among these was Harshwardhan Sakpal of the Congress. "Einstein said this about Gandhi; I saw this in the Gandhian GG. From GG we can learn how to live: do we see the glass half empty or half full; do we see the thorns in the way or the flowers that bloom."
Amid all these tributes was the personal tribute from GG's daughter Sonal. "To everyone here he was a lot of things, but to me he was my Papa, to whom I could go with my deepest fears. Of late though, he had started thinking that he'd become a burden on me, though I kept telling him that wasn't true," she said.
Sonal gave rare glimpses into GG as a father: "He taught me Maths and science; he inculcated in me a love of reading. Before school, we would read together literature from all languages."
Though both GG and his wife Mangala were active Socialists, said Sonal, "they were always there for me. They never failed to attend parent teacher meetings in my school."
"Ours was a simple Socialist Gandhian household," said Sonal. "only it was always full of all kinds of people. I'd come home from school not knowing whether there'd be 5 guests or 50, whether I'd get to sleep in my room or not."
Raut summed up what everyone whose lives had been touched by GG felt: "Normally, when someone reaches the age of 90, we start thinking he has lived his life. But in GG's case, though he had completed 100 years, we felt he should not die."
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff