Agencies
 
London, Jul 23: If Gandhi were to be alive today, he would have “stood up to” the Taliban and Osama bin Laden, according to one of his grandsons.

In an interview to BBC, Rajmohan Gandhi said his grandfather would also have tried to organise "something dramatic" -- perhaps a mass fast -- to show how unhappy most Muslims were that their religion was being linked to terrorism.

To a question, Rajmohan said that Gandhi would have stood up to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the Islamist Taliban militia.

"The issue of Muslim and non-Muslim was very important in his life in India, and the main reason behind his killing was because many Hindus thought he was closer to the Muslims than was necessary," the former Member of Parliament said.

"So today, he would never agree with the idea that there's something connected between Islam and violence or Islam and terrorism. He would totally oppose that idea."

Rajmohan added that his grandfather "might have recommended to the Muslims of the world who were unhappy being hijacked by the terrorists to say how about demonstrating your dissociation with violence through a fast if need be".

Rajmohan Gandhi, who has just written a book chronicling the life and times of his grandfather, was in London as part of the city's three-month "India Now" festival, featuring 1,500 events spanning theatre, dance, music, film and food.