GANDHI was a bundle of contradiction

Like all men of geniuses,  Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a bundle of contradictions.  A self-proclaimed sinner and an acknowledged saint, Gandhi preached love and compassion, yet harsh towards his wife Kasturba and cruelly negligent towards his sons. He identified himself with poor, yet he accepted the hospitality of wealthy business houses. He was forgiving and warm, but could also be stubborn and cold.

He didn't forgive Subhash Chandra Bose for getting elected as Congress President in defiance of his diktat. He didn't hesitate to use emotional blackmail later to force Bose to resign.

He recognised Sardar Patel and Rajagopala Chari as soul-mates who used to share his every sentiment, but discarded them in favour of Jawaharlal Nehru only for his glamorous appeal, which others lacked.

Gandhi's spiritualism did as much damage to the cause of Indian Nationalism as did Nehru's personal intimacy with Mountbattens. The Hindu orientation of Gandhi's spiritualism invited Muslim antipathy. 

British machinations were diabolic enough for the Pakistan idea to grow anyway, but the Hindu symbolisms that Gandhi made integral to the nationalist movement contributed to nationalist like Muhammad Ali Jinnah becoming a strident Islamist. 

Gandhi's obstinate refusal on several occasions to recognise the reality even on certain basic issues, pushed his admirers into despair. 

Gandhi's triumph was the greater for his weaknesses.  The positive aspects of his persona reduced the negative aspects into insignificance. 

Even Albert Einstein also once said about Gandhi - "It is hard to believe such a one has walked the earth in our time."

A careful historian like Arnold Toynbee once commented "It can already be forecast with some confidence that Gandhi's effect on human history is going to be greater and more lasting than either Statlin's or Hitler's." 

Like Buddhism, Gandhism lost ground where it was born. But, like Buddhism,  it has been embraced by distant peoples who see in its tenets the promise of a meaningful life.