This question has been asked in so many different words around on Quora and most versions seek to inquire the effect such a hypothetical scenario would have on India, its society, economy, etc.
Now, as implied by the wonderful answer of Nagarajan Srinivas I also believe India would not be very different, for this country is the product of many minds who shaped it as what it has become today.
But I'm answering this question from a different viewpoint I had while wondering why so many people think India could be any different if Gandhi were here today or 'still here'.
I think the fallacy of our hopes and assumptions lie in the fact that we know so little about this man who has been idolized more than anyone else in India. Some love him, some hate him but few understand him enough to know what he represented for those whom he truly influenced.
We all have this one image in our mind when it comes to Gandhi, a kind looking old man who represented 'non-violence' and is remembered as the father of the nation.
This is the same kind, smiling, fatherly image we are used to seeing on our currency and our postage stamps and inside the photo frame in government offices and almost everywhere.
And as a result most of us remember him for what he did but few of us care to think about the long journey he undertook that got him here.
Now, I've always wondered if India would be a different country today had our leaders chosen to put this below image on our currency instead of the above.
This is the young Gandhi who was schooled and educated (unlike most children in our country today - 4% of our children never start school and 58% don’t complete primary schools). Gandhi attended primary school at Porbandar, and later the Albert High School, Rajkot.
This was the Gandhi who showed no particular brilliance, played no games, avoided company and read little beyond text books.
Or perhaps this image
This was the Gandhi who was a Law Student who completed his legal studies in England (Per statistics, less than 10% of the youth in India complete college).
This was the young man who was passionate about learning and once said:
Or perhaps this image:
This was the young Gandhi who went to South Africa to handle a case because he failed as a lawyer in India (Funny how a young man's professional failure is seen as a stigma in our society today).
It was here that he faced racism.
As the story goes, he had a first-class [train] ticket, and he got into the first-class compartment and the ticket inspector said, "This is for whites only" .
Now, as he had just come from England, where — at least in London in the 1890s — professionals who were colored did not face discrimination. So he protested but to no avail, and he was thrown out. No doubt he was humiliated (And in his country for whose freedom he fought, people continue to be humiliated even today).
Or perhaps this image:
This is Gandhi the Lawyer, who after his legal work was over, remained in South Africa for 21 years, fighting for Indian rights and defending indentured labor in low courts against discrimination. (This was the Gandhi who was a fighter! Funny how Gandhism in our own country is limited to showing the other cheek when you get slapped on one).
There was also a great deal of reporting about him in the white press during his time in South Africa. He was a public figure very early on. When he was in his mid-20s, he was being written about sometimes with appreciation, sometimes with reservations, sometimes being vilified. There were often nasty, satirical poems written about him (Much like how the mass and social media tries to belittle the people who are trying to bring about changes in society today).
This was a time when Indians were seen as a threat by the Colonial Europeans. Because many Indians were merchants — they would sometimes even own ships, they were professionals like Gandhi; they were teachers; they could start their own newspapers. (Its quite ironic that India has not learnt from its history - we are not very different today from what we were during Gandhi's time - I often wonder if India would have been a better country if only we knew our history better, the literacy rate would probably be higher and unemployment ratio lower?)
Going back to the story, in that sense, the Indians came into far more direct competition with the ruling whites than the Africans did in the 1890s. And that's why the restrictive racial laws were placed on where they could live, what they could trade, what property they could own, disenfranchising them.
That's where the Gandhi we know little about came in. 'A political animal' is how Ramachandra Guha described him in an interview about his book 'Gandhi before India'
This is now, the same Gandhi who combined his 'opposition to the wrong' with 'sympathy for the wrong-doer' and came up with the unique idea of 'Non-Violence' which helped unite India and attain freedom; I would not describe him as a 'kind and compassionate father who will help free the country from colonial rule' but a 'politically smart young man with a determination to succeed in his endeavor' (Much like any other ambitious youth alive today who also dreams of benefiting humanity and changing the world only with the power of his education and ideas).
Gandhi was smart enough to realize that there was a deep irregularity between the Indians and the Afrikaners [descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa].
The ruling race had the money and the armed might, plus they were greater in numbers than the Indians. A Violent protest may have helped him get rid of one general or one official, but not without retaliation.
So Gandhi (as described by Guha) very skillfully adopted non-violent protest to challenge the Afrikaners.
I don't think this youthful image of his makes him any less admirable. Perhaps it helps one understand him better and see beyond his 'Savior image' that we have come to rely on.
It helps one realize that 'India produced Gandhi' just the same way that India produced the tons of Engineers and Doctors and Lawyers and Politicians and Businessmen and all ordinary men and women who struggle for dignity and respect everyday in this current time too the way Gandhi struggled back in the colonial times.
Like Vishal Sahasrabuddhe already mentioned, one Gandhi being alive today would not really help the country become better or worse in any way.
Who knows how many more Gandhis are already in the making today, some of them might be studying in a primary school, some engineering, law or medical college or teaching or working in some government institution, or training for IAS or doing anything else for that matter. Who knows if some of them are voicing their opinion here on Quora. Or for all you know it is a she this time.
I think rather than 'speculating about a hypothetical present or future' we need to spend a little bit of our time 'analyzing the past' and 'looking beyond the politicized image of the so called great men' so we don't end up switching our admiration for our heroes 'on' and 'off' based on which direction the political winds blow in; rather we accept the fact that nobody was perfect but there is always something to learn from the lives of famous people all of who have limitations and even make a few mistakes along their way to greatness.
There is no doubt about the fact that Gandhi made extreme sacrifices for what he believed in.
His 'kind old man frugal image' (that we are so used to, politicized beyond any ones' imagination, to make him look larger than life) was also only a result of his simple desire to promote justice in the world. If anything, it represented his courage for standing by his beliefs and helping those without a voice (not some magical super power only super heroes posses).
And mind you, this courage is not something non-existent in the people who live today (that we should sit around hoping for a Gandhi to come back from the past to save us).
It exists in many of us when we voice our opinions against something wrong, like someone once said:
Gandhi was nothing but an ordinary man who took that single extra-ordinary step and continued on the path.
Jordan Phoenix's answer describes very well the Gandhis and all such men that the world admires and respects so much for their courage.
Also, my long answer does not address the query of this answer because I imagine there is really nothing that Gandhi or any other leader from the past can do that the present folks in India are not already doing.
Now, as implied by the wonderful answer of Nagarajan Srinivas I also believe India would not be very different, for this country is the product of many minds who shaped it as what it has become today.
But I'm answering this question from a different viewpoint I had while wondering why so many people think India could be any different if Gandhi were here today or 'still here'.
I think the fallacy of our hopes and assumptions lie in the fact that we know so little about this man who has been idolized more than anyone else in India. Some love him, some hate him but few understand him enough to know what he represented for those whom he truly influenced.
We all have this one image in our mind when it comes to Gandhi, a kind looking old man who represented 'non-violence' and is remembered as the father of the nation.
This is the same kind, smiling, fatherly image we are used to seeing on our currency and our postage stamps and inside the photo frame in government offices and almost everywhere.
And as a result most of us remember him for what he did but few of us care to think about the long journey he undertook that got him here.
Now, I've always wondered if India would be a different country today had our leaders chosen to put this below image on our currency instead of the above.
This is the young Gandhi who was schooled and educated (unlike most children in our country today - 4% of our children never start school and 58% don’t complete primary schools). Gandhi attended primary school at Porbandar, and later the Albert High School, Rajkot.
This was the Gandhi who showed no particular brilliance, played no games, avoided company and read little beyond text books.
Or perhaps this image
This was the Gandhi who was a Law Student who completed his legal studies in England (Per statistics, less than 10% of the youth in India complete college).
This was the young man who was passionate about learning and once said:
'Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.'
Or perhaps this image:
This was the young Gandhi who went to South Africa to handle a case because he failed as a lawyer in India (Funny how a young man's professional failure is seen as a stigma in our society today).
It was here that he faced racism.
As the story goes, he had a first-class [train] ticket, and he got into the first-class compartment and the ticket inspector said, "This is for whites only" .
Now, as he had just come from England, where — at least in London in the 1890s — professionals who were colored did not face discrimination. So he protested but to no avail, and he was thrown out. No doubt he was humiliated (And in his country for whose freedom he fought, people continue to be humiliated even today).
Or perhaps this image:
This is Gandhi the Lawyer, who after his legal work was over, remained in South Africa for 21 years, fighting for Indian rights and defending indentured labor in low courts against discrimination. (This was the Gandhi who was a fighter! Funny how Gandhism in our own country is limited to showing the other cheek when you get slapped on one).
There was also a great deal of reporting about him in the white press during his time in South Africa. He was a public figure very early on. When he was in his mid-20s, he was being written about sometimes with appreciation, sometimes with reservations, sometimes being vilified. There were often nasty, satirical poems written about him (Much like how the mass and social media tries to belittle the people who are trying to bring about changes in society today).
This was a time when Indians were seen as a threat by the Colonial Europeans. Because many Indians were merchants — they would sometimes even own ships, they were professionals like Gandhi; they were teachers; they could start their own newspapers. (Its quite ironic that India has not learnt from its history - we are not very different today from what we were during Gandhi's time - I often wonder if India would have been a better country if only we knew our history better, the literacy rate would probably be higher and unemployment ratio lower?)
Going back to the story, in that sense, the Indians came into far more direct competition with the ruling whites than the Africans did in the 1890s. And that's why the restrictive racial laws were placed on where they could live, what they could trade, what property they could own, disenfranchising them.
That's where the Gandhi we know little about came in. 'A political animal' is how Ramachandra Guha described him in an interview about his book 'Gandhi before India'
This is now, the same Gandhi who combined his 'opposition to the wrong' with 'sympathy for the wrong-doer' and came up with the unique idea of 'Non-Violence' which helped unite India and attain freedom; I would not describe him as a 'kind and compassionate father who will help free the country from colonial rule' but a 'politically smart young man with a determination to succeed in his endeavor' (Much like any other ambitious youth alive today who also dreams of benefiting humanity and changing the world only with the power of his education and ideas).
Gandhi was smart enough to realize that there was a deep irregularity between the Indians and the Afrikaners [descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa].
The ruling race had the money and the armed might, plus they were greater in numbers than the Indians. A Violent protest may have helped him get rid of one general or one official, but not without retaliation.
So Gandhi (as described by Guha) very skillfully adopted non-violent protest to challenge the Afrikaners.
I don't think this youthful image of his makes him any less admirable. Perhaps it helps one understand him better and see beyond his 'Savior image' that we have come to rely on.
It helps one realize that 'India produced Gandhi' just the same way that India produced the tons of Engineers and Doctors and Lawyers and Politicians and Businessmen and all ordinary men and women who struggle for dignity and respect everyday in this current time too the way Gandhi struggled back in the colonial times.
Like Vishal Sahasrabuddhe already mentioned, one Gandhi being alive today would not really help the country become better or worse in any way.
Who knows how many more Gandhis are already in the making today, some of them might be studying in a primary school, some engineering, law or medical college or teaching or working in some government institution, or training for IAS or doing anything else for that matter. Who knows if some of them are voicing their opinion here on Quora. Or for all you know it is a she this time.
I think rather than 'speculating about a hypothetical present or future' we need to spend a little bit of our time 'analyzing the past' and 'looking beyond the politicized image of the so called great men' so we don't end up switching our admiration for our heroes 'on' and 'off' based on which direction the political winds blow in; rather we accept the fact that nobody was perfect but there is always something to learn from the lives of famous people all of who have limitations and even make a few mistakes along their way to greatness.
There is no doubt about the fact that Gandhi made extreme sacrifices for what he believed in.
His 'kind old man frugal image' (that we are so used to, politicized beyond any ones' imagination, to make him look larger than life) was also only a result of his simple desire to promote justice in the world. If anything, it represented his courage for standing by his beliefs and helping those without a voice (not some magical super power only super heroes posses).
And mind you, this courage is not something non-existent in the people who live today (that we should sit around hoping for a Gandhi to come back from the past to save us).
It exists in many of us when we voice our opinions against something wrong, like someone once said:
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Gandhi was nothing but an ordinary man who took that single extra-ordinary step and continued on the path.
Jordan Phoenix's answer describes very well the Gandhis and all such men that the world admires and respects so much for their courage.
Also, my long answer does not address the query of this answer because I imagine there is really nothing that Gandhi or any other leader from the past can do that the present folks in India are not already doing.
