Laxman Gole is a contemporary Indian Gandhian who has been described as the real-life Munnabhai. He is the 2011 winner of Zindagi Live National Award given by IBN-7. He is the subject of a film by award-winning documentary filmmaker Madhavi Tangella. Prayaschit, Gunahon Ke Zakhm , a TV show on Sony Entertainment Television, hosted by Tisca Chopra had an episode based on his life.
EARLY LIFE
Gole grew up in Kurla a suburb of Mumbai. He dropped out of school at the age of 15 when he was in VII standard. He also attended boarding school in Nanded. As a juvenile, he fought and slashed a person, resulting in an arrest. However, his age was wrongly recorded as 19, and he was sent to Arthur Road jail.
PERIOD OF CONFLICT WITH THE LAW
The time Gole spent in jail gave him a bad reputation and brought him in contact with criminals. He says, “To some extent I blame the police for making me a criminal”. He spent over seven years in jail as an undertrial and prisoner for assault, attempt to murder and extortion, with 19 cases filed against him.
ENCOUNTER WITH GANDHI’S PHILOSOPHY
It was while being held in Nashik jail under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act that Gole came across Gandhi’s autobiography – The story of my experiments with truth.
A story in The Telegraph compares this with the incident in the film Munnabhai MBBS in which Gandhi “appears” to the protagonist of the film Munnabahi. Reading the book made Gole realise the fruitlessness of violence, falsity, crime and hatred; he was impressed by Gandhi’s courage in coming in terms with his mistakes and seeking forgiveness for them, in order to get on with life. Gole decided to plead guilty to the charges laid against him, he wrote a letter to the judge sitting over his case admitting the charges against him and expressed regret for them. The judge warned him that doing so could result in him being sent to prison for seven years, but Gole declared that he was prepared to bear whatever punishment he deserved. Gole also wrote letters to those he had hurt apologising to them. Impressed by Gole’s admission of his guilt and his desire for atoning for the wrong doings he had committed, the judge gave him a sentence reduced to half. He was acquitted in 18 cases, sentenced for four years in one case and for two months in another. This sentence too was reduced to two years.
LIFE AFTER RELEASE FROM JAIL
After release from Nasik jail, Gole began About Laxman Gole working for the Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, lecturing on Gandhian philosophy in various Indian jails including Tihar jail. He has trained in computers and runs his own NGO Saksham Peace foundation.
