Ahmedabad, Oct 2 Bollywood actor and theatre personality Tom Alter has said that Mahatma Gandhi was a "very violent man," but only in thoughts.

Alter said this during a function in Ahmedabad wherein he and danseuse Mrinalini Sarabhai read out the letters exchanged between Mahatma Gandhi and freedom fighter Sarojini Naidu during the era of India's freedom struggle.

The letters tell the tale of a freedom struggle and a deep probing relationship between the two. he script of the 15-minute performance was adapted from the book "The Mahatma and the Poetess" compiled by ES Reddy and edited by Sarabhai.

"He (Gandhi) believed in non-violence because he himself was a very violent person. If he had not been violent, then he would not have believed in non-violence so much. Had he been non-violent by birth, then there would have been no need for him to convince (himself) again and again. He was violent by thoughts.

Then, he said our thoughts should be non-violent, and if our thoughts are non-violent then only our actions would be non-iolent too," said Alter. (ANI)