India on razor’s edge: Gopalkrishna Gandhi

The former West Bengal Governor says intolerance was the most important problem

The former Governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Friday remarked that the country was on a razor’s edge on many issues.

Delivering the first Dr. V. Shanta Memorial Oration at the Cancer Institute (WIA) , Adyar, titled “The Razor’s Edge - a reflection on our times,” he said that the reference of “razor’s edge” was a translation of the Sanskrit phrase kshurasya dhara found in a Kathopanishad verse, which likened the path to salvation to a razor’s edge.

Mr. Gandhi listed key issues the country and the society faced, which in his views were the razor’s edge. These included global warming and the melting of Himalayan glaciers in particular, the possibility of threat from China and Pakistan in the light of the recent war in Ukraine, and the inability of the people to do self-evaluation.

He said the “razor’s edge of all razor’s edges” for India at present was intolerance and counter intolerance. Highlighting that majorities and minorities had always lived together and shared resources in India, he said the Partition led to the presence of people and outfits that polarised society.

While terrorism was an active form of war that ought to be fought by the State with swift action, intolerance was a passive form of civil war that had to be countered by the State and society.

“Wars are started by the protagonists unwillingly, played out by the duty-bound soldiers gallantly, and paid for by the lives and security of innocents tragically. Civil wars are manipulated by the clever cunningly, played out by the naive gullibly and paid for by the lives and security of the guiltless calamitously. Wars are wicked, civil wars are a sin,” he said.