The many Fathers of Nations, and Mahatma Gandhi

This column is about the phrase ‘Father of the Nation’. It has been used for Mahatma Gandhi for decades. Rather less now than it used to be, but still in vogue. Do most people who know of it know its origin? Well, history not being a passionately loved subject in today’s generation, most might not be bothered to know it. But if asked to guess who coined it, today’s young are likely to ask tentatively, “Was it not Rabindranath Tagore?” They would understandably mix up the poet’s famous use of ‘Mahatma’ for Gandhi with ‘Father of the Nation’. Only those…