Sabarmati Ashram: Betrayed by Its Sentries

It was well known since 2014 that the current Prime Minister had his eyes on Sabarmati Ashram. His attempt as Chief Minister of Gujarat to create an alternative memorial to Gandhi in Gandhinagar, Mahatma Mandir, with all its technological razzmatazz failed to attract people away from the simple but evocative Sabarmati Ashram, abode of Ba and Bapu on the banks of the Sabarmati River.

Even he is forced to bring visiting heads of State to Sabarmati Ashram instead of Mahatma Mandir. So he has to take it over and create a memorial to himself in its place. Like the Pharaoh of Egypt who built their memorial tombs during their lifetime.

Like he has done with the Statue of Unity, apparently a tribute to Sardar Patel, but in truth a memorial to the megalomania of its creator, Narendra Damodardas Modi.

Sabarmati Ashram emerged out of the social boycott faced by Bapu and his commune at Kochrab, initiated by the Savarna community of Ahmedabad because Bapu had invited a Dalit family to come and live with him in the commune.

Bapu realised that if he wanted to experiment with creating a self-sustained, self-reliant, unconventional, just, inclusive, equal and ideal community of people, living as a community based according to true democratic principles, he had to move out of the restrictive community of the city.

Like he has done with the Statue of Unity, apparently a tribute to Sardar Patel, but in truth a memorial to the megalomania of its creator, Narendra Damodardas Modi.

So, after an extensive search, Bapu chose the barren land on the opposite bank of the Sabarmati. A tract of barren rocky land situated between a prison and a crematorium. Bapu said it was ideally situated for a satyagrahi, since his goal was to defy authority and face the consequences, or die trying to achieve his or her objective, in this case, freedom and so the prison and crematorium would provide a constant reminder and encouragement to the inmates.

The ashram land, over 120 acres, was purchased with his personal money and some donations he received and its ownership was registered in his and his nephew’s name. Later he formed a trust and the ownership of the land was transferred to the trust.

Bapu established a truly democratic commune here. Every decision was debated over a period of seven days and then voted upon and adopted or rejected according to the majority vote, and yet those voting against were also respected.

One example of this was when Bapu mooted the idea of a community kitchen and community eating in a common dining room. This was the age when kitchens were closely guarded not just on community lines but every family maintained the kitchen as the exclusive domain of the family women, no one else was allowed access.

The Gandhi home in Porbandar, Rajkot and then in South Africa continued with this tradition. When Bapu ran an open house in South Africa, Ba refused to allow her kitchen space to be violated and cooked for all Bapu’s guests, visitors and boarders. So when Bapu suggested the joint kitchen and community dining plan to the Sabarmati community, there was widespread objection to it.

Bapu requested the ashram people to debate the matter. Since it affected the women, he put the onus on them, requesting them to debate the matter and then, at the end of seven days, vote on it. The vote on this split the ashram community down the middle.

Bapu’s solution to the impasse was to implement a plan whereby those who had voted for the community kitchen and community dining started the practice while those who had voted against the proposal were allowed to continue with their tradition.

He continued to talk to the dissenters about his belief in the common kitchen and community dining plan, the result was that within six months all had joined the new arrangements.

Bapu applied the same ideal to the question of not segregating women during their periods and got rid of the reprehensible practice of banishment of women for the time of their menstruation.

All decisions in the ashram were thus taken utilising true democratic ideals and methods. This was Bapu’s way of training his people into becoming practitioners of true participative democracy.

Modi is an autocrat, who uses the democratic process to grab power and then abandons it, he hates the restrictions placed on his autocratic style of governing and so has throughout his tenure cleverly sabotaged and weakened our democratic practices and this is why Sabarmati Ashram needs to be protected as the nursery of Indian democracy.

Bapu led the first non-cooperation movement from here. In a courageous manner, defying his associates, Bapu withdrew the agitation, which many believed was on the verge of success, because of the violent incident of the murder of a few policemen by an enraged mob of satyagrahis at Chauri Chaura.

He was arrested from Sabarmati Ashram on charges of sedition, convicted and sentenced. He came back here after his release. It was here that the entire swadeshi, village industry model, was developed and khadi, the ancient hand-spun and hand-woven fabric, was revived and popularised.

Kasturba was the first to master the art of khadi spinning, she produced the highest quality of fine Khadi yarn and became the ashram’s first master spinning instructor. She would beat Bapu hands down at spinning fine khadi, they often competed with one another.

After an extensive search, Bapu chose the barren land on the opposite bank of the Sabarmati. A tract of barren rocky land situated between a prison and a crematorium.

Post South Africa and Kochrab Ashram, Sabarmati Ashram and their humble abode Hriday Kunj, was Kasturba’s home for over a decade, it was here that she raised her grandchildren, her eldest son Harilal’s children. Hriday Kunj became the beating heart of the freedom movement and the revival of village empowerment through enterprises.

In 1930, Bapu decided to revive the freedom movement, satyagraha, and proposed the Namak Satyagraha. He decided that he, along with a hand-picked bunch of ashram inmates, would march to a seaside destination and break the inhuman salt tax imposed by the British on Indians, which prohibited Indians from making and consuming salt that could be produced easily along its vast coastline and from the mineral-rich saline groundwater in its extensive arid zones.

Bapu had first advocated the abrogation of the salt tax while still in South Africa fighting for equal rights for Asian residents of the colony. The Congress at first was opposed to the proposal, but eventually, reluctantly, accepted it.

Bapu corresponded with the Viceroy and sent him a charter of demands including home rule, the abolition of the salt tax and prohibition, and castigated the Viceroy for his huge salary and ostentatious lifestyle.

Bapu gave the Viceroy an ultimatum, warning him that if he did not implement his demands by a certain date, Bapu would launch a nationwide movement of non-cooperation. The Viceroy chose to ignore Bapu’s demand and the rest, as goes the expression, is history.

On March 12, as dawn broke over the Sabarmati, Bapu marched out of the ashram at the head of a column of seventy-eight hand-picked marchers— two more were to join them the next morning. They marched for the next 26 days, covering a distance of 241 miles, and on the evening of April 5 arrived at Dandi, a seaside hamlet on the outskirts of Navsari.

The next morning, on April 6, 1930, Bapu picked up a handful of saline mud and symbolically broke the salt law, a signal for the nationwide Namak Satyagraha to begin. A tola, 10 ounces of salt was distilled from the fistful of mud picked by Bapu and was auctioned at a public meeting in Ahmedabad, a merchant bought it for the then princely sum of eleven hundred rupees, and the money raised was deposited in the satyagraha fund.

In the early 1930s, Bapu grew agitated at the brutal manner in which the British colonial government was attempting to crush the Namak Satyagraha. To protest against the persecution of the satyagrahis, and confiscation of their farms and homes along with all their belongings— rendering them destitute— Bapu decided to surrender the ashram to the British since he was the leader of the revolt.

After a lot of persuasion, his associates were able to convince him not to do so. Finally, Bapu decided to hand over the ashram to the Harijan Sevak Sangh with a caveat that it should use the property to settle Dalit families and create an enterprise for the community’s welfare and that the ashram was to be utilised for this objective perpetually.

He then quit the ashram, vowing not to stay at it till he had won freedom for the land he loved. Ba too was once again rendered homeless, till Bapu chose Shegaon near Wardha in Central India, the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, and established the Sevagram Ashram there. Ba spent the last few years of her life living there.

This is the history of Sabarmati Ashram and its importance as a memorial to Ba and Bapu and to the nascent freedom movement helmed by Bapu. This is why it must be preserved in its pristine condition.

After Bapu’s murder, several changes occurred and the ashram passed from one organisation to another, Harijan Sevak Sangh, Rashtriya Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation Memorial Trust, and a couple of other organisations all became custodians of bits and pieces of the ashram lands.

The ashram land, over 120 acres, was purchased with his personal money and some donations he received and its ownership was registered in his and his nephew’s name.

It is correctly said that too many chefs spoil the broth, these organisations did precisely that and when a real threat loomed over the ashram they were caught napping or pretended to do so.

There is a question mark on who is the legitimate custodian of Sabarmati Ashram. If Bapu’s decision is considered supreme, then the Harijan Sevak Sangh would be the rightful custodian, and is bound to act in accordance with Bapu’s caveat.

If all the changes are to be taken into consideration, then several trusts can claim custodianship. This is where the trouble starts. Gandhian organisations are, as a rule, not on amicable terms with one another, many are at daggers drawn. It is easy for a third party to exploit the bad blood and capture the institution, that is what the Prime Minister and his henchman have done with the Sabarmati Ashram.

Cowardly and self-seeking trustees bent over backward and allowed the government’s bulldozer to roll over them. The government succeeded beyond even their expectations, they had anticipated some resistance, they faced none. None from the custodians and caretakers of the ashram.

I have believed that Gandhian institutions and memorials should be insulated from governmental interference and definitely from takeover bids by the government. I find my voice to be in the minority. None of the concerned trusts were willing to stand with me to resist the attempts of takeover by the government.

It is not as if the government has never helped Gandhi memorials. Whenever necessary, the government has funded and facilitated repair and restoration work at all Gandhi memorials. While doing so, the government has never attempted to supersede or sideline the existing caretakers.

Every decision was debated over a period of seven days and then voted upon and adopted or rejected according to the majority vote, and yet those voting against were also respected.

This is the first time that the government has taken over an ashram and ordered its custodians to stand aside. This is the manner of functioning of Narendra Modi and the government headed by him.

They believe that if they spend money, it gives them proprietary rights. They forget that they are only temporary trustees of the wealth of the exchequer and have no right to claim any ownership of that capital or the things they spend it on.

If at all someone can lay claim to the ownership of the exchequer, it is the citizenry of India, but Modi behaves like a king and treats citizens like they are his subjects. He treats institutions in a similar manner. It sets a dangerous precedent.

In a bid to save the autonomy of the ashram, I approached the Gujarat High Court. Unfortunately, the trustees of Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust (SAPMT) submitted an affidavit in court stating that they support the takeover of the ashram and its properties and permit the government to carry out demolition and remodelling activities as it sees fit.

The trustees of SAPMT and the Harijan Ashram Trust have betrayed Bapu’s ashram and his legacy and sold out to the government, both state and Union, for personal gains. This has paved the way for the Gujarat High Court to easily dismiss my plea, which they hastily did without giving me an adequate hearing. The judges, for whatever reason, had decided to side with the government even before hearing my plea.

I am worried. The Union government slyly took over the Gandhi Smriti, the former Birla House, in New Delhi, where a memorial to Bapu has stood since his murder on the evening of January 30, 1948, a memorial to the murder of the Mahatma.

The hallways adjacent to the two rooms occupied by Bapu and his companions in January 1948 were adorned by large sepia prints of photographs taken by the iconic French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, large prints of these photographs on the evening of Bapu’s murder and his funeral were gifted by him to the memorial. These photographs are of Bapu’s last stay and from that fateful evening, January 30, 1948.

He then quit the ashram, vowing not to stay at it till he had won freedom for the land he loved.

The display provided a poignant narrative of those historic events to visitors and added to the sanctity of the place. When I visited Gandhi Smriti in January 2020, I was shocked to see that the large prints had been removed and replaced by large TV screens randomly displaying images which were confusing and arbitrary.

When I inquired, I was informed that it was done on the orders of the Prime Minister. He wanted the memorial to look more technological. The sepia prints were not just a record of history, they were works of art by a maestro. They have been discarded on the whim of a person with no sense of history and no appreciation for art and no sense of aesthetics.

In September this year, a photograph went viral on social media of a plaque installed at Gandhi Smriti with a tiny image of Bapu in one corner and a large image of a smirking Prime Minister dominating the plaque.

A few days ago, I was told that a big portrait of V.D. Savarkar adorns the walls of the VIP waiting room at Gandhi Smriti. It is ironic that a large portrait of Savarkar, an accused in the Gandhi murder conspiracy, now adorns the walls of the memorial to Bapu’s martyrdom.

In September this year, a photograph went viral on social media of a plaque installed at Gandhi Smriti with a tiny image of Bapu in one corner and a large image of a smirking Prime Minister dominating the plaque.

Modi should next build a life-size statue of his idol, Nathuram Godse, on the spot where he stood in the garden of Birla House on January 30, 1948, and fired three bullets from his handgun and murdered Bapu.

He has gotten away with corrupting Gandhi Smriti, now he intends to do the same to Sabarmati Ashram. Unfortunately, the Judas amongst the organisation are facilitating the government’s nefarious plan to subvert the legacy of my Ba and Bapu.

In Ahmedabad, Sabarmati Ashram is popularly called Gandhi Ashram, in future it will be known as Modi Ashram. That is the objective of the megalomaniac. Hey Ram!

Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of the Mahatma, is an activist, author and president of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation.