Gandhi's Grandson: I'm Not Gandhian Enough to Lead
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A grandson of Mohandas Gandhi has declined to head a university established by his grandfather, saying he fails to adhere to a school code requiring the wearing of only simple cotton clothes, a news report said Tuesday.
Gopal Krishna Gandhi, the governor of West Bengal state, said in a letter to the vice chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith (university), that he did not always wear a hand-spun or woven cotton "khadi" — mandatory for anyone associated with the institution, the Hindustan Times reported.
Cotton spun into threads on a spinning wheel, or "charkha," became a symbol of the 1940s independence struggle against British colonialists led by Mohandas Gandhi — also known as "Mahatma" or "Great Soul."
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His followers diligently wore "khadi" — hand-spun or hand-woven cotton clothes.
"I was greatly honored by the offer and I even accepted it initially. But on reading the university constitution I withdrew as I realized that I am not a 100 percent khadi user ... I wear a lot of khadi but also other fabrics such as woolens and handlooms," he said.
Mohandas Gandhi founded Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmadabad, a key Gujarat city, in 1920 to promote educational institutions run by Indians for Indians and outside the financial and governing control of British colonialists.
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He led India to independence in 1947, but was assassinated by a Hindu hard-liner a year later.