Lelyveld hints that Gandhi had an affair with German-Jewish architect Hermann Kallenbach. Reacting strongly to a new biography that claims that Mahatma Gandhi was bisexual, Gandhi followers in Ahmedabad city of India s western Gujarat state on Tuesday demanded strict action against writer Joseph Lelyveld, the Pulitzer prize-winning former New York Times executive editor. Lelyveld, quoting an extract from a letter written by Gandhi, in his book ‘Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and his Struggle with India’, hints that Gandhi had an affair with German-Jewish architect and bodybuilder Hermann Kallenbach. The claims on Gandhi’s sexual orientation has received criticism from his followers who assert Gandhi advocated truth, non-violence and celibacy, and such allegations are only made for the self-promotion of the writer. Another Gandhi brushed aside the controversy saying it is a price Gandhi is paying for being a public figure. Vaidya dismissed the allegations, saying Kallenbach was just another Gandhi follower. He added if Gandhi had an affair with Kallenbach, he would have confessed as Gandhi believed in telling the truth. The major part of the book follows Gandhi’s life and work in South Africa, but also alleges that Gandhi had racist attitudes towards the Africans. Gandhi and Kallenbach, who met in South Africa, got separated when Gandhi returned to India in 1914. But both remained in touch through letters. Gandhi pioneered a non-violent resistance to British rule in India and spent some of his early political years in South Africa, where he was involved in the struggle against racial discrimination and oppression. His decades-long non-violent movement inspired leaders like Nelson Mandela who led the movement against apartheid in South Africa. US civil rights leader Martin Luther King also looked up to Gandhi as his role model. Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948 in New Delhi by a Hindu radical.
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