"MAHATMA GANDHI donned the faqir dress; he used other icons of Bhakti movement and was able to ally with the depressed classes in India whereas other congress leaders failed to do that. Gandhi stayed in Harijan colonies to show that he belonged to the depressed people and was successful in bringing masses to the freedom movement. Gandhi did not seek for liberty from the British but he created liberty in the minds of Indian masses, which was his unique and unparalleled contribution", emphasised Prof Ishwar Gaur of Punjab University, Chandigarh while addressing the teacher-participants of the Refresher Course in History being organised by History Department of Kurukshetra University in its Faculty Lounge here yesterday.

Referring to the role of Sufi and Bhakti movement social reformers , Dr Gaur said they all symbolised themselves as females appealing to the Almighty so that they could side with the most depressed class of the society,--female. They used terms like charkha to spin inside heart the name of God. So did Gandhi. He dressed up like a faqir, voiced in favour of female, depressed classes, minorities and the downtrodden and could get liberty for the people as the saints and social reformers of 11th to 18th century did.

In Punjab, Farid, Nanak, Shah Hussain, Bulle Shah, Waris Shah and others constructed poetry as anti-patriarchal strategy for liberation of females, of which Heer Ranjha is the best example, making Heer as the hero of the society. The kafi style, Shahmukhi and later Gurmukhi literature is replete with inherent mystic aesthetic oratory against the scriptural hegemony of Brahmism.

The forces of non- patriarchal, non-communal and non- elite paved the way for liberation of masses since medieval period. He said the Punjabi literature has to be studied for new historicism as the Persian literature threw no light on the on-going Indian society of those times.

"Gandhi sided himself with the cause of women, Harijans, minorities and depressed classes for which he had to face resistance from Hindu fanatics within the Congress and outside it. Gandhi kept himself away from politics so that he could liberate the lower strata of society first in mind and spirit, to take them along to the mainstream of freedom movement. His close association with the lower castes and classes, minorities cost him his life at the hands of caste Hindus, elaborated Dr Gaur.

Making another issue, Gaur said Bhagat Singh was contemporary of Italian Antonio Gramsy as both were of Marxist ideology, but Bhagat Singh has so far been projected as a revolutionary only with a pistol in hand, but not as a philosopher of Marxism. Bhagat Singh wrote about Gita, Ram and Sikh Gurus and other Hindu-Sikh Saints, but he is still branded as an atheist. Therefore, there is a dire need to rewrite history in the light of local folk literature to set the things right, Gaur emphatically underlined.

Later Dr Rajesh Karankel of Mumbai University delineated the evolution of Dalits in the process of history since times immemorial. He said in medieval period, social reformers hailed from the north and central India but in modern times, it is Maharashtra which produced reformers like Jyotiba Phulle, Savitri Bai, Dr BR Ambedkar and others who fought for the other backward classes (OBC). Ambedkar fought for the Hindu women emancipation and drafted Hindu Code Bill. After screening a documentary film 'India Untouched', he said still after 54 years of independence, the lower castes and classes are subjected to reel under mean odd jobs and social practices, mostly inhuman. As Director of Ambedkar Study Center of Mumbai University, Dr Karankel said that conversion from Hindu fold to other religions has not done any good to the depressed classes as still they are treated lower untouchable castes by the upper classes everywhere in the country.

The refresher course in History was inaugurated by Lt Gen Dr DDS Sandhu on 12 December. Thirty three teacher-participants from colleges and universities of Punjab, Haryana, UP, Delhi and Odisha are participating in the three week long deliberations of the theme of the Depressed Classes in India, being organised for the first time in any Indian university, informed Prof. Chattar Singh, Co-ordinator of the course and Chairman of History department of the University.