Gopalkrishna Gandhi, former governor of West Bengal and author of ‘India and Her Futures’, said on Sunday (January 18, 2026) that while Tamil Nadu is making great strides into the modern world, he is not sure if the baggage, baggage, waste and trash of the old people are being thrown away.
In an interview with Carnatic singer and author TM Krishna at The Hindu Lit For Life 2026, Mr Gandhi, speaking of Tamil communities in Sri Lanka and India, said that religion would naturally give way to commerce, industry, science and technology.
“But in Tamil Nadu it didn’t. It found religion, industry, commerce and science becoming one. That’s an interesting development. It puts me somewhat out of touch with what’s going on. I don’t know where it’s going to go. Tamil Nadu is progressing wonderfully into the modern age with religion. The change I’m noticing is not from the Old to the New, but to what I should be complete in the Old. The Old is thrown away as we move into the New. It seems we take the baggage, baggage, trash and garbage of the Old to the New,” he said.
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Mr. Gandhi said that the two Tamil communities in Sri Lanka are distinct and both communities would be proud of anyone with a Tamil connection.
“Those in the north and east of Sri Lanka are extremely literate. Jaffna is one of the most amazing cities for its architecture, cleanliness and sanitation. There is no caste hierarchy in the Tamil communities of Sri Lanka. They have all progressed: Christianity and Buddhism have played their part. Hence, the cult of violence imposed on them is an amazing skill in Malamiaga. It is sad that if politics introduced violence and terror in the north, Sinhalese rule made them a very self-confident community. Former Prime Minister Nehru said they should return to India, his exact words were: “Tamil plantation workers in Sri Lanka…were signed to play a role and a large number of them had to return to India,” he said.
Nuclear disarmament
Asked about nuclear disarmament and the threat of nuclear war, Mr. Gandhi said it was a fallacy to ask why we should fear nuclear tests even though there had been no nuclear explosion in a combat situation since the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in 1945.
Mr. Gandhi said: “After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which was in August 1945, there has been no nuclear explosion anywhere in a combat situation. So why are you worried? This is a delusion. The fact that hundreds of tests have been carried out, the word tests obscures the reality of those tests. Every test is ‘Hiroshima and Nagasaki’, every test weakens the possibility of testing, but every area outside the Nagasaki area. another explosion in combat that is much more real.”
Mr. Gandhi further added, “Today, the number of nuclear weapons in terms of warheads deliverable by missile is in 4 digits (thousands). India has about 160 nuclear warheads. This is a danger because we know what happened after the Pahalgam terror attack. An extraordinary calibration of restraint and retaliation has been demonstrated in India… But, who else would push the button to create terror… We were so close to going nuclear.” war.”
Mr. Krishna said that Mr. Gandhi always delivers the gift in an incredibly subtle and sophisticated way in each of his essays. “The reader has to engage…to listen to the subtext, not just read but listen to the subtext, and it’s really beautiful to see how his commentary just conveys and blurs past, present, and future, and looks at possibilities and ideas that go beyond mere specifics.”
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Published – 18 Jan 2026 11:35 IST