MADURAI: The British were much better than present-day rulers and “I would prefer a British rule to the present one,” said V Kalyanam , 96, who was the personal assistant to Mahatma Gandhi, in Madurai on Tuesday.Inaugurating the philately exhibition held at the Gandhi Museum as part of 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji, he went down memory lane recalling the days at the Ashram with Gandhiji when everyone had to wake up at 3am and participate in a prayer session.“He used to dictate letters and I would write them down, and he would later make corrections with a pencil,” he said. Some of these letters which had been corrected by Gandhi were on display at the philately exhibition.Kalyanam said he felt that the present-day rulers in India had failed to give the governance that Gandhiji had envisioned.“There was no corruption during the British rule and Gandhiji himself had commended their administrative excellence many times,” he said, adding that governance might have been better if the government had been established under Netaji’s leadership after Independence.He launched Hobee Trust, which aims at promoting various hobbies, including philately at the event.The philately exhibition is being organised by three philatelists, S Vijaykumar, T Madan and P Vijaykumar, who have decided to hold the exhibition with special stamps, first day covers, commemorative stamps and others to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of the father of the nation.