Letters from our Father

On December 28, 1938, Mahatma Gandhi wrote to the Nizam’s Prime Minister Sir Akbar Hyderi, urging a non-violent approach to the freedom struggle. On August 18, 1941, he wrote to Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, asking her to unite forces to achieve complete swarajya. These precious and priceless letters that define both the Father of our Nation and his ideals that are relevant even today, are here in the city, preserved at the Telangana State Archives Department.

“We have placed them in air-tight bags for safekeeping,” Zareena Parveena, director, archives department said. “They will get a new home in Maithrivanam.”

While Gandhiji wanted the Nizam to focus on non-violence in his struggle, he wanted Kaur to focus on unity. The latter was an ardent Gandhian who participated in the Salt Satyagraha and was arrested for sedition — a matter of irony in today’s India.

Outside the archives, history buff Ramlal Agarwal has 16 letters written by the Mahatma’s hand, some in Hindi and others in Gujarati, during 1938-39.

Age, however, is fading the letters and the pinkand-orange paper they were written on. Hence, Agarwal, who inherited them from his late father Motilal Agarwal, wants the government of India to take possession for the letters’ preservation.

Most of the letters are exchange notes between Gandhiji and the then Thakore of Rajkot, with the former listing constitutional rights for the residents of princely states. Agarwal’s grandfather originally had the letters while living in Rajasthan; now, with Ramlal they are in Hyderabad. Also in his possession is an old sketch, in pencil, of the Mahatma by artist Nandalal Bose.