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Touring and Gandhi

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 Today was another day of Delhi sightseeing.  We went to the Red Fort, the site of Indian Independence from the British.  Part of the day was devoted to Gandhi.  When doing my masters degree, I had taken a course, "Modern Hindu Thought," and I was fascinated with the life of Gandhi and his concept of satyagraha or non-violent resistance.  Our visit to the spot where Gandhi was shot was cut short by police as the Bangladeshi Finance Minister arrived to pay homage to Gandhi.  We crossed the street and went into the Gandhi museum.   It seems a perennial question, one which Gandhi was devoted to, was how to lift the masses of India out of poverty.  This is a burning question in Indian politics in the lead up to the upcoming elections in June 2024.  Prime Minister Modi will be running for his third term.  He is well liked.  His picture is everywhere.  We asked one of our taxi cab drivers what he thought of Modi and he replied "great."   Modi's ruling party has introduced many programs to assist the poor.  Our taxi cab driver was from a small town 550 km outside of Delhi.  Thanks to a government scheme, he was able to obtain a loan in 15 days to purchase a taxi.  The newspapers are full of stories of projects that the government is funding.  A recent headline in the Hindustan Times read, "Make Modi PM in 2024 and India will become the (world's) third biggest economy in 2027." 

Prime Minister Modi's posters are everywhere

From The Hindustan Times Feb. 8, 2024

The spot where Gandhi was shot.


The Gandhi Museum

The Red Fort

Inside the Red Fort

St. James Church, built in 1836
was the Church of the Viceroy

National Rail Museum









Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 10, 2024 at 10:57 AM

    Makes me want to re'-watch the Gandhi Movie. India or China...which will be the next world power?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michael CaveneyFebruary 11, 2024 at 6:46 AM

      We have been totally amazed at the amount of construction in Delhi. They are building metro lines everywhere to move people.

      Delete

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