Rangappa had a smile on his face all day after spending time with the little ones Rahul Gandhi and several Congress leaders visiting the Badanavalu Khadi Village Industries Center in Nanjangud, Karnataka on October 2.
Badanavalu, a quaint village where Mahatma Gandhi inspired men and women to weave Khadi, has a spinning center that was established in 1927 by Tagadur Ramachandra Rao, an ardent follower of the Mahatma.
Situated on a nine-acre campus with spinning wheels and weaving, paper making, bleaching and handloom units, the Khadi Center hosted the Congress, which camped on the campus for half a day as part of the Bharat Jodi Yatra. , The center owes its glorious past to being the first of its kind initiative, which started working with four Dalit women with the aim of uplifting the economic status of the community.
Rangappa still vividly remembers Mahatma Gandhi using the charkha when he visited the center twice – once in 1927 and again in 1932. “I was so tall when I first met Mahatma Gandhi,” he tells News18, pointing to his five-year-old great-granddaughter standing next to him. He narrates how he saw Mahatma Gandhi using a charkha and when the latter caught his curiosity, he presented a cotton ball to the then young Rangappa.
“He showed me how to spin it. Tagadur was also there and he encouraged me to learn to weave and spin. It was mesmerizing and I immediately started spinning and weaving. Gandhi loved our people. And when he came the crowd was so big that we could hardly meet him. But he spent a lot of time with us in the village. Our village was very prosperous then,” says Rangappa, who retired as Khadi Center in-charge And also participated in the freedom struggle.
Presently, Rangappa and his family – which includes 10 children and 30 grandchildren – had a brief conversation with Rahul Gandhi. Asked what he thought of the meeting, Rangappa smiled and said softly: “I can only speak Kannada. He told me that he wanted to know about me. I was happy to sit next to him. His smile is very sweet and he is very nice.” His family said that the elder then posed for pictures with senior leader Siddaramaiah, whom he loves dearly.
Rahul Gandhi paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 153rd birth anniversary at the Khadi Centre, where he interacted with weavers and their families and participated in a ‘bhajan’ session.
As Badanwalu is a village that has set the tone for Dalit upliftment, as part of that history, Rahul Gandhi also laid the interlocking tiles of a street that connected the settlements of Lingayats and Dalits. This was of particular importance as caste violence was witnessed in 1993 in Badanwalu, where three lower caste farmers were killed by a group of upper castes. Two others died in police firing amid the protests.
While at the center of village lore is Mahatma Gandhi, at the center of Badnavalu is the contribution of Tagadur Ramachandra Rao, who emphasized that the Mahatma had come to his village in 1927.
Ramachandra Rao, affectionately called the ‘Gandhi of Mysore’ by his supporters, hailed from Tagadur, the neighboring village of Badnavalu. He actively participated in the freedom struggle and at the young age of 18, started selling Jallianwala Bagh massacre photographs to earn a living.
While his small business was flourishing, the Swadeshi movement was gaining momentum across the country. Rao, who took inspiration from senior Congress leaders like Mudividu Krishna Rao, heard how foreign goods were burnt as a mark of protest. Since his products were also foreign, he immediately set his car on fire and joined the Swadeshi movement.
Rao’s work towards the upliftment of Dalits and the campaign against untouchability earned praise from Mahatma Gandhi and Madan Mohan Malaviya. Rao faced arrest in 1928 when he made a speech against the state of Mysore and opposed the visit of the Simon Commission. He became the first political prisoner of the Kingdom of Mysore and spent 15 days in jail.
Talking about Badnavalu’s legacy, senior Congress leader BL Shankar explains that Tagadur Rao forced Gandhi-ji to come to the village.
“When he (Rao) brought them here, Gandhiji wondered how Dalits who were considered untouchables were spinning and spinning the charkha to earn a living. Once upon a time there were more than 600 weavers in this village and it was thriving.”
Shankar further said: “When mechanization started and power looms came in the market, these handlooms gradually disappeared. Today we have brought Rahul Gandhi here to show the beauty of Badanwalu village which influenced Gandhiji. This visit also showed how important it is to revive our rural economy.”
Shailaja, a third-generation weaver who spent a few minutes with Rahul Gandhi during her visit, said she continues to work at the Khadi center as she is inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and keeps the tradition of Khadi alive along with his memory. want to keep
We have great respect and adoration for Gandhiji. Even though we get a nominal salary and could have found work elsewhere, we are still in the Khadi center because we want to keep the tradition of Khadi alive – the same Khadi that Gandhiji gave to the nation and made the people themselves – Reliant,” she told News18.
When asked what Rahul Gandhi had to say to him, he said that he asked about his job and his problems. “Our problem is our salary. We get Rs 25 for a meter and we weave only six to seven meters a day. How can we run our family with this? We need a hike in our salary and we have written to Rahul Gandhi requesting help.
Shailja’s nine-year-old daughter Harshita quickly sat down near a spinning wheel and tried her hand at spinning. Although his mother reprimanded him for wasting the thread, the little one persisted. “I want to travel and knit like you. You like Gandhiji, I like him too,” she said, before finally heeding her mother’s advice.
In 2015, a movement called ‘Badanavalu Satyagraha’ was started by theater personality and activist Prasanna, which envisaged sustainable development while maintaining harmony with the environment. Satyagraha attracted the likes of Medha Patkar and now it is too late Bollywood Actor Irrfan Khan to be a part of the revival story. The decline of Badanavalu and the fading Khadi industry inspired Prasanna to set up a home in the village and with the help of some volunteers, he helped revive the center and create awareness about this quaint town that influenced the Mahatma. started doing
Suggestions have been made to develop Badanwalu on the lines of Sabarmati Ashram and the weavers of this village hope to see a bright future as the future of the spinning industry hangs by a thread.
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