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A tribute to lone perseverance

KOLKATA: Sixty years ago, when the subcontinent was being torn apart by the violent birth pangs of independence, the chief architect of the freedom movement, Mahatma Gandhi, was in Kolkata (then Calcutta), trying to stem the tide of raging communal violence. As a tribute to that lone perseverance, a museum was inaugurated here on Wednesday at the historic Gandhi Bhavan, the house where the Mahatma lived from August 13 to September 7, 1947, by the West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

“This house has a message — that of communal harmony and inter-faith dialogue that is relevant throughout the world today,” Mr. Gandhi said, after inaugurating the museum on a “historically surcharged day.” Also present was veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu.

The building known as the Haidari Manzil in 1947 was located in a part of Beliaghata which was populated by predominantly Muslin slum dwellers.

The site of horrendous butchery, it was here that Gandhiji undertook a 73-hour fast between September 1 and 4, 1947 which shamed the warring factions to surrender their arms and cease the violence.

The museum, which will display rare photographs and articles along with other articles related to the events of that took place during Gandhi’s stay there, is being funded by the West Bengal Governments’ Tourism Department.

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