Mr. Sundeep Kiklawala
Lecturer (MCA)

This is one newly coined term that has taken the nation by storm. Pick up any newspaper, magazine or TV Channel and you will find some remark or some discussion on this term. But first, what is Gandhigiri?

To answer this question, we visited Wikipedia, an open-source Online Encyclopedia to check what it has to say about Gandhigiri.

Etymology (Meaning the study of the origin of the words)

Gandhigiri is a fusion of the words Gandhi and Giri; and may be loosely translated as practising what Mahatma Gandhi preached in informal Bambaiya Hindi. The word "Giri" is a colloquial suffix. X-giri means one action or the set of all actions characteristic of X. Thus, "Dadagiri" means "the actions characteristic of a dada (= bully)", "chamchagiri" means the actions characteristic of a chamcha (=sycophant).

Meaning

Gandhigiri denotes modifying one's principles and lifestyle reflecting the moral principles of Satya (the Truth), Ahimsa (passive non-violence), Sahishnuta (Tolerance) and Ekta (Unity) as practised in real life by Mahatma Gandhi. People adopting Ganghigiri solve problems with perseverance, non-violence and tolerance rather than with violence. Gandhigiri aims to overcome 'Dadagiri' or 'bullyism' by encouraging people to adopt non-violent and constructive ways to solve a problem.

Use in popular culture

The 2006 Bollywood movie Lage Raho Munna Bhai popularised Gandhism under the new term of Gandhigiri. According to The Washington Post, some critics and sociologists have suggested that this phenomena could be attributed to the film simplifying Gandhi's "lofty ideals" and conveying them in contemporary, conversational language.

The Craze for Gandhi

Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the producer of Lage Raho Munnabhai has been stunned by the overwhelming response to his movie. In fact, the movie has revived people’s interest in all other movies on Gandhi including Gandhi by Richard Attenborough, The Making of the Mahatma by Shyam Benegal and others. In fact, even the sales of books on Gandhi have shot up with the autobiography of Gandhi selling like hot cakes.

After receiving a request for a copy of Gandhi's autobiography, My Experiments with Truth from an inmate at the Arthur Road Prison, the Mumbai Sarvodaya Mandal will be distributing free copies of the text and will be showing Lage Raho Munna Bhai at various jails throughout the country.  

Gandhigiri protests

According to the 12 October 2006 edition of bbc.co.uk, the film inspired a "Gandhi-style protest by farmers" in the Vidarbha region. Many other examples of Gandhigiri protests have also been reported. People who organized a protest in Lucknow claimed to have been inspired by Lage Raho Munna Bhai to use roses to convey their message. Medical students in Lucknow claimed to have been inspired by Lage Raho Munna Bhai to do volunteer work, planting trees "to conserve nature which is bound to benefit public health." Mafia don Babloo Srivastava claimed to have been inspired by Lago Raho Munna Bhai to distribute roses as a "message of love and peace".

Gandhigiri Resources

There is already a website called www.gandhigiri.co.in and www.gandhigiri.org set up after the success of the movie. Plus, a plethora of websites dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi like www.mkgandhi.org, www.web.mahatma.org.in, www.gandhiserve.org, www.gandhitoday.org, www.gandhiana.org, www.nonviolenceworks.com, www.mahatma.com, www.gandhiorg.org, etc are getting a sudden rush of visitors. 

Glimpses from “Lage Raho Munnabhai”
This was the original title before it was changed to “Lage Raho…”	Dilip Prabhavalkar who plays the role of Gandhi in the movie

To Sum Up

To end this article, we just want to say one thing:

Let us do Gandhigiri. After all, if Munnabhai can do it, so Why can't We ????

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