Dear PM and CM, institutions are not limited to buildings and gardens. The Mahatma would have been upset to see controversial personalities and politicians enjoying easy access to what was once his room at the ashram. Ordinary Indians have to satisfy themselves by peeping into the room from outside through a meshed net of wire.This comes as no surprise because Gujarat Government goes to extraordinary lengths to cover up slums and poorer localities with green nets when dignitaries from Japan, China or the USA visit the ashram. Of late, a wall has too has been erected.But did Gandhi hide the poverty of India? Did he not go to England to meet the British Premier in his loincloth,despite being ridiculed as the ‘half-naked-fakir’? Did he not visit and highlight the living conditions of textile workers in England?For Gandhi, every penny was important. In Noakhali, he would sit on the ground in the dark, in the light of a solitary lantern, and speak to people on the importance of freedom. At the end of his speech, people would donate what little they could spare, usually some coins. They would throw the coins near the lantern and take their leave. It was the responsibility of Manu and Abha to gather the coins, count them and keep an account.
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