Castiest Gandhi killed his wife

20Oct09

 

The Ottawa City Council voted to place a statue of Gandhi in Strathcona Park (Sandy Hill). We oppose this statue for many reasons which have been previously covered. There are so many good reasons to oppose ever allowing such a statue that it is difficult to find space for covering them all. However, one more reason which we believe demands immediate attention has just recently come to our notice.

As documented in the book “100 Things You’re Not Suppose to Know” by Russ Kirk (The Disinformation Company, 2008), there is a disturbing conclusion to the story of the death of Gandhi’s wife, Kasturba. Kirk sums up the problem with the following title: “Gandhi refused to let his dying wife take penicillin yet took quinine to save himself.” This incident further reveals Gandhi’s stunning hypocrisy as he spent his life masking his actions of intolerance and racism with words of peace and love. We have included the full story of Kasturba’s death below.

A man who treated his wife in such a thoughtless and self-serving manner should never be honored with a statue in Ottawa.

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[The following is an excerpt from pp. 167-169 of 100 THINGS YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW by Russ Kick]

GANDHI REFUSED TO LET HIS DYING WIFE TAKE PENICILLIN YET TOOK QUININE TO SAVE HIMSELF

Gandhi is often ranked, directly or subtly, alongside Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King Jr. as one of the greatest peacemakers – indeed, one of the greatest human beings – of all time. The mythology that surrounds him – which he built, leaving his followers, admirers, and hagiographers to reinforce and embellish – has almost completely smothered the many unflattering facts about him.

In such a compact book, space doesn’t permit a full exploration of Gandhi’s numerous, consequential skeletons – his racism toward blacks and whites, his betrayal of the Untouchables, his acquiescence toward the Nazis. Instead let’s focus on something more personal and, in some ways, more upsetting.

In August 1942, Gandhi and his wife, Kasturba, among others, were imprisoned by the British in Aga Khan Palace, near Poona. Kasturba had poor circulation and she’d weathered several heart attacks. While detained in the palace, she developed bronchial pneumonia. One of her four sons, Devadas, wanted her to take penicillin. Gandhi refused. He was okay with her receiving traditional remedies, such as water from the Ganges, but he refused her any medicines, including this newfangled antibiotic, saying that the Almighty would have to heal her.

“The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi” quotes him on February 19, 1944; “If God wills it, He will pull her through.” “Gandhi: A Life” adds this wisdom from the Mahatma: “You cannot cure your mother now, no matter what wonder drugs you may muster. She is in God’s hands now.” Three days later, Devadas was still pushing for the penicillin, but Gandhi shot back: “Why don’t you trust God?” Kasturba died that day.

The next night, Gandhi cried out: “But how God tested my faith!” He told one of Kasturba’s doctors that the antibiotic wouldn’t have saved her and that allowing her to have it “would have meant the bankruptcy of my faith.” (Emphasis mine.)

But Gandhi’s faith wasn’t much of an obstacle a short time later when it was his ass on the line. A mere six weeks after Kasturba died, Gandhi was flattened by malaria. He stuck to an all-liquid diet as his doctors tried to convince him to take quinine. But Gandhi completely refused and died of the disease, right? No, actually, after three weeks of deterioration, he took the diabolical drug and quickly recovered. The stuff about trusting God’s will and testing faith only applied when his wife’s life hung in the balance. When he needed a drug to stave off the Grim Reaper, down the hatch it went.

 

Source: BC



17 Responses to “Castiest Gandhi killed his wife”

  1. 1 k.v. subramanya

    Wah! Gandhi!!! Hey Ram!

  2. 3 Why

    Isn’t quinine natural medicine and comes from bark of tree? That way Gandhi was logically right to take natuaral medicine ?

  3. 5 Truth

    You’re going a bit over the top here. Gandhi’s method in this scenario is more practical than spiritual. Ghandhi’s wife had been under severe pain for quite some time. He felt that the use of drugs would simply prolong her pain. Furthermore, Kasturba herself insisted on using herbal medicines. It is true that their son tried to get Kasturba to take penicillin, but you conveniently did not mention the fact that her doctors declared that she was beyond aid at that point. This information is from an autobiography of Kasturba by Arun Gandhi, known as “Daughter of Midnight.” Quinine is actually quite a natural medicine extracted from the bark of a tree and was used for centuries prior to the 1940s. it is unfortunate that you used passionate political feelings to write this article, because it is very far from the truth.

    • >Quinine is actually quite a natural medicine extracted from the bark of a tree and was used for centuries prior to the 1940s. it is unfortunate that you used passionate political feelings to write this article, because it is very far from the truth.

      Are you saying mold is not natural? Because that’s where penicillin comes from…

  4. 7 smart_guy

    The author of this article is a moron!!

  5. 8 Eric

    The people pointing out that quinine is natural are completely right here, folks. By natural they/we mean that it was actually discovered and used long before the scientific and medical revelations that brought about medicines like penicillin. It was originally used by Peruvian Indians (although admittedly not to treat Malaria).

    I can’t find any sources to dispute the rest of the data–my usual method (ahem–google) has been flooded with references to this article, effectively hiding any real sources on the details surrounding Kasturba’s death. Suffice it to say this seems more inflammatory than anything else, and in any case, Ghandi’s weaknesses seem much more minor than most figures we build statues for.

  6. 9 Stephen

    Medical student here – if it matters to the argument, penicillin is derived from molds which have been recorded to be used (mainly topically) to treat infections since ancient times. It can be considered as natural a medicine as quinine (which, historically, mainly found use as a medicine for things other than malaria).

    • 10 Sumit

      A bit off topic, so would be grateful if you can answer, are polio drops natural too?

  7. Hay Ram….What am I reading about our father of nation.

    • 12 ase453q2

      firstly:rama. ram doesn’t mean anything unless you speak Hindi or any other north indian langauge.
      It’s Rama.

      2ndly: you’re reading some new facts. most indians i meet are completely blinded by zealous nationalism. India is a land full of hypocrasy and eople are nwilling to accept the truth. what about you?

  8. 13 vinnyparti

    Dear everyone say, “oh penicilin is natural too.” What u need to understand is gandhi is not GOD. he is only a great human personality and he only knows so much. You cannot expect him to know everything. I bet evryone of you dont know everything. What if he didnt know penecilin is from mold. It is a minor mistake. And also, if this article was not written in such a bias way, the fact that the dooctors said she was beyond the stage of medicine would be stated. Penicilin or not, she was destined to die which is why gandhi quoted about god. People here that make bias arguments: only do so if you have never made a mistake. He is far a better statue to build than your bloody self.

  9. 14 Sumit

    For those who believe in Karma:

    1. Why Kasturba Gandhi never got to see free India? (Unlike Nehru, Patel, Maulana, Sarojini Naidu, …)

    2. Why none of Kasturba Gandhi’s loving children/grand-children never became part of national politics?

    3. Why did Gandhi claim, days before his death, that he could not die of an illness, and that he could be assassinated? And yet he did not opt for any security?

  10. 15 Nini

    Gandhiji was a fickle minded person.One who couldn’t become a good husband and good father,how can he become the father of the nation.

  11. 16 radhika

    Agree with NINI…..he was a bad husband and a bad father….and quite a hypocrite.I think he would have been a successful politician if he lived longer.

  12. I donot know the truth


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