‘GANDHIJI WROTE HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY AT THE SABARMATI ASHRAM OVER A PERIOD OF 658 DAYS. WHEN HE WANTED TO BE IN TOUCH WITH HIMSELF, THIS IS WHERE HE WOULD COME.’
set of dedicated followers in India,” says Guha. Under Gandhi, the Ashram became the epicentre of Indian politics, he adds. “The birth of khadi as a national and Gandhian symbol was at this Ashram. He had started spinning before, but here he started a workshop to build spinning wheels. The Ahmedabad mill workers, went on a strike for higher wages in 1918. Gandhiji got involved in the protest and worked with the mill owners and workers to find a resolution to the situation,” says Suhrud. Many of the striking workers had been employed by Gandhi to build parts of the Ashram. The Kheda Satyagraha in support of peasants who couldn’t pay the high taxes levied by the British government, was launched in this period.
In tandem with his political work, he also started putting in action his plans for social reconstruction. Along with Harijan seva and reviving khadi, Gandhi started editing journals like Navajivan and Young India during his years at Sabarmati, and in 1920 founded the Gujarat Vidyapith university. It was while staying at the Ashram that Gandhi was arrested in 1922, and tried for sedition (for publishing certain revolutionary articles) in what has since come to be known as “The Great Ahmedabad Trial”. Gandhi pleaded guilty and was jailed for six years, but released after two years for medical reasons.
“Gandhiji also wrote his autobiography at the Sabarmati Ashram over a period of 658 days. When he wanted to be in touch with himself, this is where he would come,” points out Suhrud. His political movement against the British progressively intensified over the years and finally in 1930, along with 78 other volunteers from the Ashram, Gandhi set out for the historic salt march to Dandi, to break the British law that stopped Indians from producing or selling salt, vowing not to return to the Ashram till India had gained independence from the British. “He never lived at the Ashram after that though he visited a few times. His last visit to the Sabarmati Ashram was in 1936,” says an Ashram employee. “After Gandhiji left (in 1930), those who stayed back or visited the Ashram carried on the work of social reconstruction started by him,” says Guha, adding that the political nerve-centre of the movement shifted with the leader. Then, in 1933, three years after leaving the Ashram, to protest the torture of those connected with the freedom struggle and the forced taking away of their properties by the government, Gandhi decided to disband the Ashram and wrote to the secretary of the government of Bombay, suggesting that the government “take possession” of the land, buildings and crops of the Ashram. But when the government did not do so, Gandhi decided to dedicate it to the service of Harijans. A new trust was formed for this.
“…The Ashram exists in our hearts as much as it does on the bank of the Sabarmati,” Gandhi had written in a letter in 1932. “When he thought that the institution established by him had served the purpose for which it was established, he was ready to disown it. Whether it was his Ashram or the Congress, he decided on merit and there was no personal attachment. This is the uniqueness of Gandhi,” says A Annamalai, director of the National Gandhi Museum in Delhi. Suhrud agrees: “His own ideas and philosophies were evolving. From having his base in the city, as in Ahmedabad, he had realised that change had to be brought in through the villages, and Sevagram, the institution in Wardha in Maharashtra, created after Sabarmati Ashram, was a reflection of this,” says Suhrud. The objectives of the two institutions were different, points out Annamalai. While Sabarmati Ashram was established to train volunteers for non-violent action, at Sevagram, Gandhi wanted Congress workers to settle in a village and engage in rural reconstruction through constructive programmes. In the years after Gandhi’s assassination in 1948, different trusts have taken up the work of conserving and protecting his legacy and carrying on the work started by him at Sabarmati. The Harijan Ashram Trust runs the Vinay Mandir school for higher education and the Mahila Adhyapan Mandir with hostel facilities for Harijan girls. The Gujarat Khadi Gramodyog Mandal produces and sells khadi and runs a unit for building charkhas and also a unit for handmade paper called Kalamkhush. The Khadi Gramodyog Prayog Samiti does research in spinning, weaving etc, while the Harijan Sevak Sangh works for the removal of untouchability and does research in modern, low-cost sanitation. It also runs the Safai School. The Ashram Gaushala engages in animal husbandry, cow breeding and milk production.
Then there is the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust. “It was formed in 1951 with three major objectives – to preserve the physical buildings, his residence etc; to collect and preserve his writings; and a third, very critical part, was communication – how does the modern generation know about Gandhi,” explains Kartikeya Sarabhai, the longestserving trustee. The Trust has taken up projects such as a non-violence programme in schools, to teach children the importance of finding solutions to problems by non-violent methods. “We don’t engage in politics,” he adds, “but we try to organise programmes to give answers to modern social issues through Gandhiji’s teachings,” he says.
One of the most important works of the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust has been to create the Gandhi Heritage Portal, which in the last six years, has digitised his writings, journals , photos etc, besides creating virtual tours of places associated with Gandhi. Three dimensional models of objects used by him are being added. “The portal not only has matter available here, but at other Gandhi institutes too. We have even sourced material from South Africa and put it on the portal,” says Sarabhai.
As far as the Ashram goes, Annamalai feels, a good idea would be to accommodate people at the Ashram at Sabarmati, to experience Ashram life and follow the Ashram rules and routine. “In that way it can become a living model of a Gandhian life style,” he says.
The years since Gandhi’s death have not been without discord. Last year, descendants of Harijan families living in the Ashram protested during the centenary celebrations because they felt they had not been made part of the event. There is also friction between individuals and groups on the use of the Ashram land. While Pandya agrees that there is at times disagreement between parties, he insists that even during Gandhi’s time, differences would crop up between various groups.
On a typical day at the Ashram, however, peace still prevails. The odd, shrill notes of a Bollywood song from a visitor’s mobile phone is all that disturbs the quiet. As the hot summer day gives way to a balmy evening and the Ashram prepares to wrap up for the day, a few stragglers sit on the stairs leading to the river bank, soaking in the breeze and the serenity.
THE ASHRAM EXISTS IN OUR HEARTS AS MUCH AS IT DOES ON THE BANK OF THE SABARMATI, GANDHI WROTE IN 1932.