More than being the ‘father of the Indian nation’, Mahatma Gandhi could be remembered as the architect of an inter-faith, inter-cultural India. That it did, though with flaws, is because of the civic and empathetic nationalism Gandhi advocated and practised. A striking feature of Gandhi’s civic nationalism was his insistence that India is not an exclusively Hindu civilisation. He continually defined and defended Indian nationalism through his belief in the truth of all religions. He was convinced that a mere doctrinaire approach to religion will not help consolidate the foundations of Indian civic nationalism.

Source: Indian Express December 29, 2019 18:33 UTC