The Idea Of Gandhi

While most citizens had scurried back and forth around Lucknow as usual, at least three people took time off to remember Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi last Tuesday.

It might be recalled that on January 30, 1948 three bullets were fired from close range into the chest of the 78-year-old Gandhi, who had died instantly on the premises of Delhi’s Birla House.

This year, the three Gandhians sat at Lucknow’s Gandhi Museum spinning a wheel on January 30, observed annually as Martyr’s Day. Uttar Pradesh (UP) Gandhi Smarak Nidhi (GSN) secretary, Lal Bahadur Rai was one of those who remembered to pay homage to Gandhi on this day.

However, one is not sure how many still remember that in British-ruled India, Gandhi had turned the humble practice of spinning handwoven cloth on a wheel into a revolution. The cloth that he had spun was called Khadi.

It was central to Gandhi’s Swadeshi movement, and the boycott of the use of imported products and materials.

It is regrettable that not many are aware today that Lucknow’s Gandhi Museum has a collection of more than 23,000 books on Gandhi, and written by Gandhi.

The interest in Gandhi is low these days. The few Gandhians still left in the city regret that their, favourite place of learning today is no longer a library, but the WhatsApp University. Today, the membership of the Gandhi Museum library has dwindled to 45.

The museum was opened in 1973 when many more were still interested in the life and work of Gandhi. All sources of income to the museum have dried up now.

Recently the building lost its last tenant, and few want to rent the auditorium there with 700 seats as it needs renovation.

With the help of about 24 employees, the GSN continues to produce a variety of products like mustard oil, neem soap, khadi clothes and incense sticks. However, the sales are not encouraging as few patrons of the Gandhian way of life remain in the city.

The Public India, a YouTube news channel released a four minute film on Gandhi called ‘Humare Bapu’, on Tuesday that highlights the importance of values like truth and non-violence so dear to Gandhi.

Gandhian Journalist Ram Dutt Tripathi does not believe in waiting for citizens, especially youngsters to engage with the idea of Gandhi but would like to take the good ideas of Gandhi to the citizens.

Time To Revive Khadi

Perhaps it is time to take another look at khadi, and the khadi movement. Just in case it is forgotten why Gandhi preferred to wear the white hand spun loincloth and shawl, let us find out more.

In the Lucknow of the 1970s, the Gandhi Ashram was a favourite boutique of the city’s youth as well. It was fashionable and flattering to dress in a khadi kurta then.

Wearing khadi was one way students on the Lucknow University campus had shown solidarity with the poor. Khadi was a symbol of hope for the starry-eyed.

The belief was that eventually even our society would become self-reliant, and all citizens would be clothed in garments, and in dignity.

At that time the population was well aware why Gandhi had loved khadi. It is because he saw in khadi the potential to provide work also to the semi-starved, semi-employed women of India.

“My idea is to get these women to spin yarn, and to clothe the people of India with khadi which will take the impoverished women out of it,” Gandhi, the father of the nation had said.

Gandhi was enchanted by the value hidden in the folds of khadi. Gandhi had dreamt of seeing every Indian harvest a cotton plant and spin cotton into khadi yarns.

The result of the shared labour would hopefully empower the country and make it financially independent. The advantage of handwoven cotton is the comfort that it is able to provide in a tropical climate. It is spun from natural fibres without electricity and it is low in carbon footprint and biodegradable.

Gandhi In Lucknow

There are many fond memories that the people of Lucknow once had of Gandhi that were celebrated annually in the past. Today those memories are fading.

Not many recall that at the age of 47 years, Gandhi had taken a train to Lucknow in the winter of 1916. At the iconic Charbagh Railway station Gandhi had first met the 27-year-old Jawaharlal Nehru, one day after Christmas.

From the railway station the two had attended the annual meeting of the Indian National Congress. In Lucknow, Gandhi had visited the home of Kailash Nath Kaul, botanist and founder of India’s National Botanical Research Institute.

Kaul was the brother of Kamla, Nehru’wife. In that home on Lucknow’s Gokhle Marg, Gandhi had planted a tree that exists to this day.

It was in Lucknow that Gandhi and Nehru, the two freedom fighters, had learnt to appreciate each other. The place at the Charbagh Railway Station is now marked by a plaque where some candles are seen flickering every December 26, the day Gandhi had first met Nehru in Lucknow in 1916.

Between 1920 and 1922 Gandhi had visited the Firangi Mahal, an institution of learning with a worldwide reputation. During that time Gandhi and his pet goat were guests of Maulana Bari Firangi who had supported Gandhi’s freedom movement.

The Political Pot

The political pot is on the boil here. After Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s somersault out of the I.N.D.I.A. alliance of 28 Opposition parties, who amongst the UP politicians will be next, is the question.

“Will Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary join the ruling party led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)?”

Similar questions are floating around town after Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav released the first list of contestants in Lok Sabha elections to be held in May. The SP is the main opposition party in UP and in its first list it has named 11 seats for Congress party contestants, and seven seats for the RLD.

All three parties the Congress, SP and the RLD at the moment are part of the I.N.D.I.A. alliance. However, the SP does not want to support the RLD in Muzaffarnagar and in the Kairana constituencies.

This has annoyed the RLD that has an emotional connection to Muzaffarnagar. It is the constituency from where Chaudhary’s father, RLD founder, the late Ajit Singh, had contested from in 2019.

Over the years, Chaudhary has also made his party work hard in Muzaffarnagar and Western UP to heal the voters whose relationship with each other was wounded after the murderous riots that had flared up in the area in 2013.

The ruling party can’t wait to welcome Chaudhary into its fold if only to weaken the Opposition gaining ground against its performance in office in the last decade.