TODAY we are living in a world of human rights, where all human beings are born free and equal. Every citizen is entitled to the enjoyment of human rights. This has become possible due to the relentless struggle made by a number of freedom-loving persons, 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 her goals of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity with dignity. He is truly the father of independent India.
The satyagraha he launched in South Africa to abolish apartheid and the nonviolent movement he led in India would go a long way in shaping a society free from injustice and exploitation. Albert Einstein has rightly said, ''Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.” Between 1921 and 1946, Gandhi visited Orissa eight times. These had an electrifying effect on the people who took active part in the freedom struggle. Gandhi, for the first time, visited Orissa in 1921. Accompanied by Kasturba, he arrived at Cuttack on Dola Purnima day on March 23. A huge crowd had gathered at the railway station. People had taken position almost everywhere - roadsides, treetops and building terraces - to catch a glimpse of the Mahatma. Gandhi addressed the first meeting of the day at Kadam-i-Rasool, where topics such as 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 to the cause of freedom struggle. It was learnt that women donated jewellery weighing nearly sixty to seventy tolas and about a thousand rupees.
That evening, 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. Gandhi called upon people to give up everything that was British. When he said that western education was doing no good to Indians, a member of the audience questioned the stand taken by him. How could Gandhi consider western education harmful when he himself had received the same? Gandhi replied that great men like the Buddha, Chaitanya and 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.
Another incident took place when the meeting was in progress.
Probably, with an intention to disturb Gandhi, a man from the crowd threw a torn winnowing fan into the audience. A remark was heard, “A gift for Gandhi.” At the end of the meeting, the winnowing fan was auctioned and it fetched Rs 20. Gandhi travelled to Bhadrak, Sakhigopal and Puri, where also he addressed people. Accompanied by Gopabandhu, he then left for Berhampur on March 29. His second visit was brief. On the request of Madhusudan Das, Gandhi came to Cuttack on August 19, 1925 and visited Utkal Tannery. His fortnight long tour for the propagation of khadi started on December 4, 1927.
The whirlwind tour adversely affected his health and he took rest at the place of Madhusudan Das. After he fully recovered, he left Cuttack on 21st December to attend the All India Congress session at Madras.
The next year, Gandhi visited Orissa again. On his way to attend the AICC session at Calcutta, he arrived at Jharsuguda on December 22, 1928. After addressing a meeting there he proceeded to Sambalpur.
In 1934, Gandhi began his celebrated padayatra with the mission of Harijan uplift and abolition of untouchability. He visited Orissa twice in this connection. First, on May 5, 1934 he addressed gatherings at Jharsuguda and Sambalpur. On May 8, he unveiled a statue of late Pandit Gopabandhu Das at Puri before undertaking padayatra from Puri via Harekrushnapur, Chandanpur, Sakshigopal, Kadua Asram, Danda Mukundapur, Pipili, Balakati, Satyabhamapur, Balianta, Telengapenth, Kajipatna to Cuttack. Gandhi left for Patna a week later to attend the AICC session. On his return, he resumed his padayatra.
The places he covered this time included Byree, Champapur, Bheda, Lekhanpur, Gopinathpur, Bahukud, Patpur, Nischintkoili, Kakatia, Salar, Bhagabatipur, Kendrapara, Barimul, Indupur, Angeispur, Kalyanpur, Kalamatia, Kaipada, Bari, Kabirpur, Sahaspur, Neuli, Purosottampur, Budhaghat, Jajpur, Manjuri, Todanaga, Garadpur, Bhadrak, Markona, Soro, Khantapara, Haladipada, Amarda and Jaleswar.
Gandhi again visited Orissa on March 25, 1938. He was accompanied by Kasturba, Durgaben, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, Rajendra Prasad, Acharya Krupalini, Mahadev Dasai 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 20th January 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.
People of Orissa loved and adored Gandhi. They walked miles to get a glimpse of the Mahatma. Some even believed that he was an incarnation of God. Handfuls of sand of river Kathjodi were collected by people who adored him. 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 realized that people of this part of the country were poor but they were 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, which they had tied in their cloth. 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, the most peaceful state in India, 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.
Probably, 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 to June 27, 1948. 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.
A few days ago, US President Barack Obama said if he had the choice to have dinner with anyone, it would be with Mahatma Gandhi.
If Obama’s wish was to be fulfilled, he would have flown to Orissa to have dinner with Gandhi in the hut of a Dalit.
Murlidhar C. Bhandare
Governor, Orissa