Gandhi’s posthumous veneration has made him all things to all people

Evidence

History has been kind to Gandhi. He was deified by millions of people in his own lifetime. Gandhi’s godliness has become a universal and, so it seems, an eternal phenomenon. It’s not just that the metaphor has outstripped the man. It has entirely reinvented him. (Which is why a critique of Gandhi need not automatically be taken to be a critique of all Gandhians.) Gandhi has become all things to all people: Obama loves him and so does the Occupy Movement. Anarchists love him and so does the Establishment. Narendra Modi loves him and so does Rahul Gandhi. The poor love him and so do the rich. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 90

Categorization

• XREF: This universal-appropriation thesis of a deified leader echoes the comparable claim made about why critiques of Gandhi differ from critiques of Gandhians — useful framing for the larger Ambedkar-vs-Gandhi debate.