Gandhi-Bhagat Singh dialogue

“Bapuji namaste, why are you scratching your head this morning?” 

“Who is it ?”

“Someone you never liked”.

“I have never hated anyone”.  

“Really? Not even those who threw you out of the train for sitting in the car reserved for whites?”

“No”.

“I don’t believe that. You were a changed man after that episode. You chose to fight back instead. That explains your anger”.

“I don’t want to argue with you. But who are you anyway?” 

“Bhagat Singh”

“Oh wow.  How come you are here in heaven?”

“I don’t think we are in any imaginary place”.

“What do you mean?”

“There is no such thing as heaven or hell. It’s all myth”.                             

“Come on, young man, you have departed the world down there like me. So better get used to it. Your atheism is nothing but fakery”.

“With due respect Bapu ji. We are sharing something else and not any illusionary space”.

“And what is that Sir?”

“It’s an Artificial intelligence world we are living in. And it’s in complete control of the people of science”.

“There is no point debating with a radical like you. You are not getting it even after death”.

“Well. I wrote an essay about my atheism shortly before I was executed. So I stick to my principles”.

“Good for you. But I don’t buy that”.

“No problem. We can leave it there. But you didn’t answer my question. Why are you scratching your head?”

“I am surprised at the people who are running our country down there”.         

 “That surprises me too. But what was the trigger for you?” 

“That guy from my state, who is now the leader of India, keeps garlanding my statues and saying nice things about me”.

“He does that to me as well, Bapuji. Hope you don’t get jealous? Ha ha ha”.   

“Not at all. We both did our part to liberate our motherland from colonialism”.

“So what’s bothering you?”

“He is an admirer of those men who killed me. He believes in their philosophy of violence and an exclusionist society. He even killed Muslims in my native state. And now he is turning the entire country into a graveyard. So why this hypocrisy?”

“Because he and his party don’t have heroes of their own. Instead they backstabbed us and never supported our cause. All they tried to do was to keep the British happy to establish Hindu Rashtra”.

“I don’t know why people down there are not getting it?”

“There are people who get it and challenge it. But they are in a minority and they are divided. He knows that and continues to take advantage of this”

“They are foolish then. Can’t they learn anything from our struggle? We never let the British succeed in their policy of divide and rule”.                         

“That’s the problem Bapuji. Hope we find a way to guide and educate them before it’s too late”.

“It’s already too late Bhagat Singh. Can’t you see?”

“I can. But you must also take some blame for this?”   

“Why? What do you mean by that?”

“You tried to mix religion with politics, and advocated for Ram Rajya and cow protection. So you laid the groundwork for this”.

 “But I never went that far. I always wanted to keep Muslims in India and never wanted them to be separated from Hindus. I sat on fasting against violence against Muslims. And that’s the reason these people gunned me down”.

“I don’t deny that Bapuji. If I were alive at the time of your assassination, I would have avenged your murder”. 

“Is that so? Even if you disagreed with my non-violent ways?”

“Why not? If I could avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, I would have done that for you as well. We never got along either, mainly because of his orthodox religious beliefs”. 

“ Hmm. But why people are divided now?”

“There are multiple reasons, Bapuji. What troubles me most though is that those who claim to be more reasonable are also fragmented on ideological grounds”.

“Like what ?”

“Like the one we just discussed. Some say they respect you, while others claim they believe in me. Under the current circumstances, they need to see how we worked on the common ground in spite of our differences”.

“Is there a way we can create another Avatar and send it down there to lead people into another freedom movement?”

“That makes no sense”. 

“Bhagat Singh, don’t be so adamant. Indians are deeply religious and they need spiritual leaders to guide them”.

“I see your point. But I still don’t agree. We have to think in material and realistic terms. Even for argument’s sake, those scholars being arrested and thrown behind bars for raising questions and standing up for the underdog are no less than Avatars”.

“I hear you young man. Let’s agree to disagree and move on”. 

“For now, we can leave aside our moral views and differences of opinion. We need to find ways to reorganize the masses to fight against injustice. I am confident that they need both you and me to win this battle. We honestly don’t need to do much as our legacy remains alive to give them hope”.

“But what can we do sitting here away from the human world?”

“As I said before, it’s an Artificial intelligence space controlled by men on the earth. We better try to use it to reach out to the people who need to be converted before this is completely taken over by fascists.”  

Gurpreet Singh is a journalist