DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GANDHISM AND GANDHIGIRI!

Gandhism is a collection of inspirations, principles, beliefs and philosophy of the father of our nation-Mahatma Gandhi, who was a major political and spiritual leader of our country and no matter how many leaders come and go, none could make a strong impact as The Mahatma who shook the whole nation that to with his strong faith in Non- Violence while the rest of the country was in a fire of Revenge!
Yes! I believe that there is a difference between Gandhism and Gandhigiri, although both the terms reflect from the same base. While Gandhism is a strong association with the beliefs, Principles and vision of Mahatma Gandhi and is a close link with the Mahatma and encompasses his ideas, inspiration,words and actions for the people all around the world. Gandhism is that journey of Gandhi to discover truth than what he considered truth, and this was a revolution in itself because it was Gandhism that ignited the people to question than just accept any ideology in the name of Truth. A very famous quote reads,” To become a Gandhian, one must set upon the same personal journey to seek truth and build one's life around it. It is not necessary to arrive at the same conclusions as Gandhi. But undergoing personal challenges, travails and the testing of one's spirit, resolve and fundamental values is a definitive element.”
Gandhigiri on the other hand is a relatively new term in India which is used to express the opinions of Gandhism in contemporary terms. It is a term one can relate to, rather it can define a particular action. While Gandhism is based on Guidelines by Mahatma Gandhi a Person who follows his Principles is a Gandhian, while a person when performs a particular deed following those guidelines is said to do practice Gandhigiri. Thus while Gandhigiri implies to an action, Gandhism portrays towards a broad spectrum of such Gandhigri actions with a strong faith and motive in search of the Satya and Non- Violence.
Gandhism is broad over everything in the search of the truth, which is definite and inviolable. There have been Muslim Gandhians, such as Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. Christian Gandhians, such as Horace Alexander; Jewish Gandhians, such as Herman Kallenbach. Gandhigiri caught its real impetus after the movie “Lage Raho MunnaBhai revised the practice of the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi where we see the MunnaBhai summarizing the philosophy of Mahatma by following them to make a real substantial and effective difference in the name of Non- Violence and with the power of it, MunnaBhai realizes it to be more effective than the opposite- Dadagiri and he comes out to help the ordinary problem solve their issues. Thus any body can practice Gandhigiri but he need not be a Gandhian to preach it, and lately we can see the difference it makes on the dumb and deaf Government that pays no attention to our voices but India now sees Gandhigiri in the forms of staging nonviolent protests, starting Web sites, handing out roses to enemies and putting on peaked white caps from the Gandhi era that hits the person concerned at the most severe place.
In Lucknow students 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. Even Mafia don Babloo Srivastava claimed to have been inspired by the movie to distribute roses as a message of love and peace all in the name of Gandhigiri. Not only in India, In the United States during July 2007, piles of flowers were sent to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office by individuals who were legally in the U.S. but caught in a green card backlog. This was an act of Gandhigiri (or nonviolent protests) that has become a strong sensation and even if Mahatma Gandhi died decades back, his teachings are still fresh and while the rest of the world is left dumbstruck seeing this man’s potentials so much that he still continues to rule in the lives of the people as a Principle and a Guideline in himself