When Mahatma Gandhi spent 7 days at Beraboi Village in Odisha
By Srikanta Mohanty: The pristine statehood of Odisha even has a village, where father of nation, Mahatma Gandhi, stayed with his family and other prominent leaders during the days of freedom struggle. As more than 400 thatched hutments were constructed for their stay alongside the ponds and inside the paddy fields, the village Beraboi near Delanga bears the signature of the glory from the historical past. During the seven days long stay, there was intense discussion on various subjects pertinent to the growth of the nation, such as poverty eradication, political freedom, removal of untouchability, spread of Khadi, development of Cottage industry, production of indigenous products, and economic development of the nation.
Mahatma reached Beraboi in the morning of 25th March, 1938 at 7 A.M. by Puri Express. Accompanied by wife Kasturba , son Manilal, daughter-in-law Sushila, and grandson Arun, the entire family spent the week in the hutments. Other political stalwarts like Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Acharya J.B Kripalini, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Dr Prafulla Chandra Ghosh, Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant, R.R. Dibakar, Jamnalal Bajaj, Anna Saheb Saharshabudhe, Mahadev Desai, Pyarelal, Hridayanath Kunjru, Kishorilal Masrulal, Kakasaheb Karlekar reached this venue along with freedom fighters from every nook and corner of the nation. The meeting continued despite the heat and dust of summer in the hot month of March.
The statue of Mahatma adorns the same place in the proximity of hutments. Gandhiji and his followers took dip in the nearby Budheswar pond. Later, a memorial was constructed at the spot by Ramadevi and it was named as Kasturba Gandhi Memorial.
Almost four thousands representatives joined the meeting that took place at Beraboi from 25th to 31st March. The discussion was mainly focused on various constructive programmes inside the nation. Sardar Ballav Bhai Patel hosted the flag and formally inaugurated the programme for Gandhi Seva Sangh, while Mahatma inaugurated an agriculture and rural crafts exhibition.
As a few sevayats had given false statements to Kasturiba Gandhi that people belonging to all castes, religions, and creeds were permitted to enter inside Sri Jagannath temple of Puri, they took Kasturiba Gandhi and Durgaben to the temple from Beraboi. Although Narayana Desai accompanied them, he refrained from entering inside the temple. Mahatma Gandhi launched a fast as he knew that about Kasturba’s trip to the temple, where the people from lower castes were not allowed to enter. Many prominent Odias served as voluntaries in this conclave. Leaders like Pandit Kripasindhu Hota, Gopabandhu Choudhury, Maa Ramadevi, Acharya Harihara, Radhanath Rath, Annapurna Maharana, Binod Kanungo, Gunanidhi Mohanty, Manamohana Chouidhury, Satyabadi Nanda, Surendra Pattnaik, Biswanath Sahoo played active roles in this.
The most important thing is all the materials necessary for the decoration, stay, and food of the representatives were collected from a distance of 10 miles. A huge turnout of 75,000 people visited this assembly after purchasing tickets at the cost of two paisa. Almost a crowd of fifty thousand gathered at the inauguration ceremony. Speaking on the occasion, Gandhiji stressed upon abdication of idleness and alcoholism by the masses, which were vital for growth of Odisha at that time.
Talking on this historical episode, President of Gandhi Memorial Society, Prahallad Kumar Sinha, has said on the occasion of 70th Gandhi Jayanti, renowned scientist Albert Einstein once remarked that the posterity would hardly believe that a human-being like Gandhiji lived on this earth once-upon-a-time. As the present trend of luxurious living prevails among the politicians, the present generations would find this hard to believe that how Gandhiji along with his followers spent 7 days in the scorching summer heat in the small idyllic village of Beraboi.
Copyright ©: No Content of this Article may be copied and reproduced in any electronic or printed medium for publication or distribution without prior written permission from the copyright holders. Otherwise, it may lead to a copyright infringement and legal hassles.