They Wear Bapu on the Timeline. They Bury Him in the Feed.

October 2. India wakes to #GandhiJayanti. Timelines bloom with marigold language. Raj Ghat fills. Cameras click. Leaders post. Khadi gets a sales pitch. Swadeshi gets a slogan. The same day, Lal Bahadur Shastri's birth anniversary rides beside Bapu — Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan — another sacred name pressed into a hashtag parade.

Watch closely. Both sides rush the altar.

The ruling chorus drapes itself in Bapu's cloth. Floral tribute at the memorial. International Day of Non-Violence. Buy Khadi. Build Viksit Bharat. The post is soft. The brand is hard. A martyr of conscience becomes a morning marketing slot. Ministers quote simplicity while the machine of power keeps its usual noise.

The opposition chorus answers in the same dialect. Truth. Satyagraha. Non-violence. "His principles are being challenged" — and then the party hashtag, the portrait, the claim of inheritance. Same flower. Different logo. Same emotion hire. They scold the government for betraying Bapu, then treat Bapu like a mascot for the next reel.

Students, scroll slower.

Gandhi did not build a country so parties could rent his face once a year. He spun a wheel against empire. He asked for discipline of self, not discipline of the feed. Today's politics spins something else: your outrage, your nostalgia, your loyalty. Ruling party and opposition both know the trick. Flood the board with reverence. Starve the board of scrutiny. Make you choose a side before you choose a question.

Look at what else trends beside the tributes. Godse. Fake journalism. Devotional noise. Stock spam waiting in the wings. The market of attention does not pause for conscience. It monetises it. A nation that cannot hold silence for one honest minute will not hold freedom either.

Critical-thinking checklist, before you repost:

1. Who gains if this tribute makes you angrier at the other side?
2. Does the post name a principle, or only a party?
3. Would the same account defend non-violence tomorrow when the street turns ugly?
4. If Bapu's name were removed, would any policy claim still stand?

Young people: inherit the habit of doubt, not the habit of applause. Thinking people: measure leaders by what they do to the weak on ordinary Tuesdays, not by what they quote on October 2. Party loyalty is cheap. Inquiry costs sleep. Pay that cost.

Awakening question:

When every timeline wears Bapu like perfume, who still smells the truth underneath?