:: OP-ED

How Orissa moved Gandhi

Murlidhar C. Bhandare

Oct.14 : Today, we are living in a world of human rights, where all human beings are born free and equal. We have this freedom because of the years of relentless struggle of our freedom fighters, who believed in human dignity and human values. Among them, Mahatma Gandhi stands out as the greatest human being of the last century. He guided India to its goals of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity with absolute dignity. The Satyagraha he launched in South Africa to abolish Apartheid and the Non-Violence Movement he led in India to free the country from British rule has served in ridding our society from injustice and exploitation to quite an extent. Indian Independence signalled the collapse of colonial rule in the world and paved the way for the independence of several nations.

Between 1921 and 1946, Mahatma Gandhi visited Orissa eight times. These visits had an electrifying effect on the people, who took active part in the struggle against British rule. Students gave up their studies; professionals gave up lucrative careers and many courted arrest. Ordinary people displayed extraordinary courage and did not hesitate to risk their lives for freedom. Gandhi, for the first time, visited Orissa in 1921. Accompanied by Kasturba Gandhi, he arrived in Cuttack on Dola Purnima, the full moon day in the month of Phalguna, the March 23, 1921. A huge crowd had gathered at the Cuttack railway station. People had positioned themselves almost everywhere — roadsides, treetops and building terraces — to have a glimpse of the Mahatma.

Mahatma Gandhi addressed the first meeting of the day at Kadam-i-Rasool, where topics such as the Khilafat Movement and Hindu-Muslim unity were discussed. In the afternoon, he addressed a meeting of women at Binod Bihari, where he exhorted women to give up wearing ornaments and donate the same to the cause of freedom struggle. It was learnt that women donated jewellery weighing nearly 60 to 70 tolas and worth a thousand rupees.

That evening, Mahatma Gandhi addressed a mammoth public meeting on the riverbed of the Kathjodi. Addressing the crowd, he said the reward for cooperation with the British during World War I was the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Now non-cooperation was the only choice left. He called upon people to give up everything that was British. When he said that Western education was doing no good to Indians, a member from the audience questioned the stand taken by him. How could Mahatma Gandhi consider Western education harmful when he himself had received the same? No sooner did he finish his words that Gandhi replied that great men like Buddha, Chaitanya, Shankara, Kabir and Nanak were strangers to this Western education. It would have been much better if he had not been a product of this system.

Gandhi travelled to Bhadrak, Sakshigopal and Puri, where he also addressed people. Accompanied by Gopabandhu, he left for Berhampur on March 29, 1921. Gandhi’s second visit to Orissa was brief. On the request of Madhusudan Das, Gandhi came to Cuttack on August 19, 1925, and visited Utkal Tannery. This time he visited a lepers’ asylum in the afternoon and addressed a meeting in the Town Hall in the evening.

Mahatma Gandhi’s fortnight long tour of Orissa for the propagation of khadi started on December 4, 1927. On December 18, he reached Cuttack. The whirlwind tour adversely affected his health and he rested in the house of Madhusudan Das. After he fully recovered, he left Cuttack on December 21 to attend the All-India Congress session at Madras.

In 1934, Gandhi began his celebrated padayatra with the mission of harijan upliftment and abolition of untouchability. He visited Orissa twice in this connection. He again visited Orissa on March 25, 1938. He was accompanied by Kasturba, Durgaben, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, Rajendra Prasad, Acharya Krupalini, Mahadev Desai and many other leaders. The occasion was to attend the fourth annual conference of Gandhi Seva Sangha and the Utkal Khadi and Village Industry exhibition at Berboi, near Delang in Puri district.

On January 20, 1946, Gandhi passed through Orissa on his way from Calcutta to Madras. He made brief addresses at Cuttack and Berhampur. This turned out to be his last visit.

The people of Orissa loved Gandhi. They walked miles to get a glimpse of the Mahatma. Some even believed that he was an incarnation of God. A group of students pawned a friend’s gold chain to pay for the bus tickets that would allow them to get a glimpse of the Mahatma.

Right from his first visit to Orissa, Gandhi had realised that the people of this part of the country were poor but large-hearted. He was deeply moved when in response to his appeal to contribute to the Tilak Swaraj Fund, hundreds of thousands of famine-stricken people of Puri contributed a paise or an anna. He once said, "The famine-stricken skeletons of men and women in Orissa haunt me in my waking hours and in my dreams. Whatever can be useful to those starving millions is beautiful to my mind. Let us give today first the vital things of life and all the graces and ornaments of life will follow".

Gandhi’s message is even more relevant today than it was 60 years ago. Hunger and malnourishment still plague several parts of the world. Violence is spreading in different parts of the world, particularly through terrorism. Even in Orissa, violence is raising its ugly head through Maoism and Naxalism. Gandhi’s message of non-violence and peace is, therefore, very relevant. There is no way to peace, peace is the way. Gandhi has shown us this way.

It was a great coincidence that Gandhi’s ashes were preserved in Orissa for a long time. It was almost a forgotten chapter in history that an urn containing some ashes was kept in the Puri Raj Bhavan premises from February 12, 1948 to June 27, 1948, a fact which was highlighted during my first year in Orissa when the book on Raj Bhavan was drafted. From Puri, the ashes were brought to Cuttack and preserved in the Imperial Bank of India till finally these were handed over to his great-grandson, Tushar Gandhi, in 1997 for immersion in the holy Ganges at Sangam on the Mahatma’s 49th death anniversary.

A few days ago, Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, said that if he had the choice to have dinner with anyone, it would be with Mahatma Gandhi. If Mr Obama’s wish were to come true, he would have had to fly to Orissa to dine with Gandhi, probably in a dalit’s humble hut.

Murlidhar C. Bhandare is governor of Orissa