Those words ring only too true in the ears of Malini Mehra, founder and CEO of the Centre for Social Markets, a non-profit organisation that has pioneered work on sustainability and corporate responsibility in India.
Those hoping the developing world will avoid adopting the destructive nature of western consumerism are naïve, she says, as Gandhi's vision of justice and treading lightly on the planet is obliterated by a growing and rampant middle class.
Malini, who sits on the advisory boards of Unilever, Kimberly-Clark, BHP Billiton and the German government's International Climate Initiative, is also scathing of those who say they are optimistic that technological innovation alone will halt the ravages of climate change and environmental destruction.
"There is a certain fashion to call yourself an optimist," she says, "but we cannot be blind to the trends we see which are becoming starker day by day: rising greenhouse gas emissions, social inequality and levels of conflict.
"Gandhi is no longer a lightning rod or icon for the young. If he were alive today he would be totally bewildered and think India had taken the wrong path."
She contrasts Gandhi's exhortation to think of the effect on the poorest person before taking any action with what she describes as the obscene behaviour of India's emerging billionaires.
"The rise in inequality in India is unconscionable," says Malini. "Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in India, has built a billion dollar skyscraper as a home, while the country has the largest population who are hungry, illiterate and have to shit in the open. What's most shocking is that it does not shock. Indians do not look with jealousy any more at western lifestyles. We now have our own billionaires people are aspiring to."
Malini bemoans the fact that discussions around morality are largely absent in public discourse and that greed and desire have taken over from thoughts of sufficiency.
"You cannot avoid the whole consumerist psychology of feeling life is better with the acquisition of material goods," she says, pointing out that even the religious temples are being corrupted by growing wealth. "People still go to the temple but now give money, when in the past they might take a packet of sweets. Read the full report here.
Source: Jo Confino, Guardian Professional Network, guardian.co.uk.
