by Suranya Aiyar October 2, 2024 A Hindi translation of this article will be published in the Media Map issue of October 2024. The on-going attack in India on the cherished principles on which we fought our Freedom Struggle forces one to go back to our history in search of answers. My researches led me to several interesting discoveries, the most unexpected being the power of Mahatma Gandhi’s own writing. All my life I had read historians and writers on Gandhi; I had watched plays and films made by others on him; I had heard my father and other elders in my circle speak of him, but Gandhi in his own words was something new for me. My understanding of Gandhi had been as a leader who used civil disobedience and non-violent methods of political resistance such as non-co-operation, strikes, boycotts and public demonstrations to build a national movement. I saw him as a sort of first-among-equals among the many historical leaders who led non-violent movements in the 20 th century. Bu