JOIN USRestless Delhi, abuzz with activities political and cultural, took time off to dwell on the life and times of the Father of the Nation on day of his martyrdom over the weekend. Interestingly, January 30 witnessed many an event, exhibitions and talks across the city on both Gandhi and his assassin Nathuram Godse.
At India International Centre a film screening, Mahatma Gandhi : 20th Century Prophet by Stanley Neal reminded all of A K Chettiar’s documentary film on Gandhi, credited to be the first documentary on Bapu. Chettiar, travelogue writer, journalist and documentary filmmaker from Tamil Nadu, started working on this project in 1937. He re-edited the film in Hollywood with a commentary in English and screened it in the US in 1953. The
documentary was dubbed in Hindi and re-released on the eve of Indian independence
on 15th August 1947 under the Presidentship of Dr Rajendra Prasad.
Delhi-based Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT), too roped in groups from different parts of the city, including students from Delhi schools, such as Springdales, Blue Bells and Delhi Public School for an event to mark Martyrs Day and the need to infuse Gandhi’s teachings and ideas in governance today.
Teen Murti Bhavan organised a special exhibition displaying photos from the life of Gandhi in India, while at Jawaharlal Nehru University, a new book by Teesta Setalvad, called Beyond Doubt: A dossier on Gandhi's assassination, was launched. The book deals with the politics behind the killing of the Father of Nation.
Prof Irfan Habib, renowned historian who was present at the event urged the assembled gathering to reignite the need for unity as it was in the time of Gandhi.
Recalling his memories of Gandhiji, Prof Habib said when Gandhi was trying to bring in reforms in caste and religion in India, he was a young student studying in Aligarh Muslim University and had the opportunity to witness the trials and triumphs of the revered leader very closely.
Habib recounted that “Gandhi always went against the mainstream. When the Congress, the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League wanted the partition of India, hedemanded
that polls be conducted in the country and a decision taken on the basis of what the polls suggested.”
Habib, who is a self-confessed Leftist, said, “Communists then generally regarded themselves against Gandhi’s ideals. But after Partition when Delhi and Kolkata were filled with dead bodies of Hindus and Muslims, even Communists had come to understand what Gandhi meant when he was against the country’s partition.”
Speaking as a Muslim, Prof Habib said, “Gandhi was a ‘certain sort of Hindu,’ he brought modernism in the religion and took it to a new level,” quoting extensively Gandhi’s beliefs from the book of prayer meetings that were conducted by him. “If we can learn any lesson from Mahatma Gandhi, then we should stand up and create unity among all people in society, just as Gandhi introduced the marriage of social reforms and political agitation, during the national movement.
“Even in his last days he said that Quran and Bible to him were as sacred as the Gita. He changed the whole character of Hinduism,” the historian said.