In the 75th year of independence, Gandhi Bhavan felt as lonely as it did on 15 August 1947, when Mahatma Gandhi stayed in this house on the day India got independence.
In the 75th year of independence, Gandhi Bhavan felt as lonely as it did on 15 August 1947, when Mahatma Gandhi stayed in this house on the day India got independence.
Hydari Manzil, or Gandhi Bhavan as it is called these days, remained closed until 10 a.m. on August 15, 2022, when the building’s caretakers arrived and began wiping away the marble statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the courtyard. The national flag was unfurled only after the rain stopped, exactly at 11 o’clock, a dozen people who had quietly disappeared as soon as they arrived.
a pocket watch, a lantern, wooden slippers, spinning wheel, a metal glass and a stick; All personal items used by Mahatma Gandhi remain in the fasting hall, which today rarely had any visitors. Termites have appeared on the first frame of the yet to be inaugurated exhibition on the Father of the Nation. Feeling lonely in Gandhi Bhavan 75th year of independence As it happened on 15 August 1947, when the country got independence, Gandhi lived in this one-storey house.
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“As it happened, Mahatma Gandhi was not present at the celebration in the capital on August 15, 1947. He was in Calcutta (now Kolkata) but did not attend any celebrations or unfurl the flag there. Gandhi celebrated the day 24 Marked with a fast of the hour,” reads one of the exhibit’s panels. “He was staying at this address, Hydari Manzil, which was decorated with the Indian tricolor by Hindu and Muslim volunteers,” it highlights, highlighting the historical significance of the place.
When Gandhi decided to stay in Kolkata, he deliberately chose Hydari Manzil in Beleghata, a prominent Muslim neighborhood known as Miyabagan. In 1947, Mahatma Gandhi was about to visit riot-hit Noakhali (now in Bangladesh), but many people pleaded with him to save Kolkata.
The national flag is being hoisted at Gandhi Bhavan, Kolkata, where Gandhiji was on August 15, 1947, as India celebrates 75 years of its independence on August 15, 2022. Photo Credit: Shiv Sahai Singh
He reached Gandhi Bhavan a few days before 15th August and stayed here till 6th September. It was in the same building that Gandhi had fasted on 1 September, when communal violence erupted again in some parts of the city. The fast continued for 73 hours, after which many rioters came to Gandhi and handed over their weapons. Some old, thick but pointed iron weapons that were placed before the Mahatma are still on display in the fasting hall next to his personal belongings, a testimony to the time of crisis.
Delay in opening of exhibition
A 3000 sq ft exhibition inside the historic Gandhi Bhavan with dozens of panels on various events in Gandhiji’s life and his interactions with various personalities awaits the inauguration. Officials from the West Bengal government’s Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, which has maintained the building since 2019, said they are waiting for a date from “higher authorities” to inaugurate the exhibition.
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The building’s gates are usually closed to all, and it takes a lot of persuading the authorities to allow people inside as the country celebrates its 75th year of independence.
Stories of Gandhi’s stay in the region
Most of the people with whom Gandhi interacted in the area have died, but some stories are still to be found. Jayanta Nath, a member of the former Kolkata Gandhi Memorial Committee, recalled the story he had heard of how some local youth stole a goat whose milk was served to Mahatma Gandhi, in the hope that it would leave him the place.
“I haven’t seen Gandhiji, but on his 100th birth anniversary in 1969, Frontier Gandhi Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan had visited the place and said ‘Hindu Muslim Bhai Bhai’,” Mr Nath recalled.
In 1947, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi arrived at Hydari Manji, now known as Gandhi Bhavan, a few days before 15th August and stayed here till 6th September. Photo Credit: Shiv Sahai Singh
Locals, especially caretaker Dilip Dey, remember the visits of former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who was instrumental in restoring the building located in the densely populated North Kolkata neighbourhood. Mr. Gopalkrishna Gandhi told this correspondent that Gandhi Bhavan is a “monument to the freedom struggle’s commitment to the overall culture of India” and a site next to a “historic house located on Tees January Marg in New Delhi for the power of magnetism”. ” ,
The historical significance of Gandhi Bhavan and the memories of the Father of the Nation, especially during the time of independence, may not have attracted the people of Kolkata to its gates, but Aniruddha G Haldipurkar decided to spend the 75th year of the country’s independence. at this place.
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“I had planned it two years ago. I used to ask people where was Gandhiji when the country got independence, but many of them did not know about this place.
Mr. Haldipurkar, who said Gandhi had stayed at his home in Karwar, Karnataka in 1934, visited most of the places associated with Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary in 2019. As advocates, Gandhis were wearing caps and tricolor dupatta. , standing in front of the mattress where the pocket watch, charkha and slippers, and wooden stick are displayed, he said, “Tears come to my eyes, thinking what the great man must have done on August 15, 1947.”