Parekh delivered the first Gandhi Memorial Annual Lecture, organised at Mani Bhavan and the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, to a sparse gathering at the Kanji Khatsi Sabha on Tuesday. Since it was the masses who had made Gandhi a Mahatma, they too were responsible for his successes and his failures, said Dr Parekh. ``Gandhi is what we make of him, we can either make him a great mortal or a false saint,'' said the author of books on political theory and a book on Gandhi for the Past Masters Series published by Oxford University.

The `Great Soul' was actually a mortal with qualities which are common. But his success lay in the fact that he recognised these qualities and made best use of them, observed Parekh.

Speaking for thegeneration that grew up during the pre-independence era, Dr Parekh felt that the idolisation of Gandhi meant that he would be vulnerable to vicious derision a few decades down the line, when the consequences of his actions came to the fore. ``Because he is a Mahatma, we expect him to undo all the wrongs in society at that time. When that did not happen, sections of society have gone so far as to call him a traitor,'' said Dr Parekh.

When Dalits, led by Dr B R Ambedkar, questioned Gandhi's efforts on removing untouchability, they did not realise the political compulsions that demanded the soft approach, felt Dr Parekh. ``Gandhi knew the strong anti-Dalit bias in society, if he went against untouchability, he stood to lose a great deal of support from the masses.'' But Gandhi was one of the few national leaders who strongly advocated reservations for lower castes during the framing of the Indian constitution, he said.

Similarly, the claim of Hindu nationalists that Ahimsa was not sanctioned by religion wasdebunked by Dr Parekh, who countered that Hindu civilisation was based on the concept of acceptance of foreign influences but passive opposition to enslavement by them. ``Gandhi was a juggler with concepts of various religions, but was a slave to none of them,'' he added.

This was one of the main qualities missing in leaders who determine India's destiny today, he said. Public life, as in religion, should be more concerned with one's conduct rather than with belief. ``No religion is perfect, if we try to make a perfect state using religion, it is sheer blasphemy,'' remarked Dr Parekh.