Making Gandhi a capitalist

The book is filled with such contorted and convoluted interpretations of Gandhi, so as to forcefully pin a "free market capitalist" label on him

Economist Gandhi: The Roots and the Relevance of the Political Economy of the Mahatma

Author: Jaithirth Rao

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 256

Price: Rs 599

Gandhi is a capitalist. The Mahatma, though renowned for his austerity and romanticisation of villages, is as strong a proponent of capitalistic wealth creation as the founding father of free market economics, Adam Smith.

This startlingly contrarian description of Gandhi in media articles as a curtain raiser for a new book Economist Gandhi by Jaithirth Rao would understandably pique one’s curiosity. I decided to buy and read the book.

The book opens with a candid confession by the author: “I have tried to