Mahatma Gandhi a hero not just to India, but to the world, says Obama
Mumbai: Visiting US President Barack Obama on Saturday described Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation, as hero not just to India, but also to the world during a personal pilgrimage to Mani Bhawan, the home Gandhi used whenever he visited
Mumbai at the height of the country’s freedom struggle against British colonial rule.
After a 30-minute tour of the place, the American president wrote in the guest book:
"I am filled with hope and inspiration as I have the privilege to view this testament to
Gandhi`s life. He is a hero not just to India but to the world." Gandhi has inspired
Americans and African Americans, including Martin Luther King, he said.
US First Lady Michelle Obama wrote: "This visit will be one that I will always
treasure. The life and teachings of Gandhi must be shared with our children around
the world." The president also read the remarks written by American civil rights
leader Martin Luther King, who visited Mani Bhawan in 1959. Situated on a quiet
lane, Laburnum Road, in South Mumbai, Mani Bhawan hosted Gandhi between
1917 and 1934. Today, it is a museum that houses a number of rare memorabilia
related to him. The Obamas spent sometime alone in Gandhi’s old room, which has a
bed, a small desk and his spinning wheel. Obama’s admiration for Mahatma Gandhi
is well known. Last year, during an interaction with students back home, he was
asked who he would have liked to have dinner with anyone dead or alive, and he
said: “You know, I think that it might be Gandhi, who is a real hero of mine.” Obama
said then that Gandhi changed the world just by the power of his ethics. Mani
Bhawan was the place where Gandhi learnt how to spin cotton. He used the charkha
as a symbol to show the country how it could wean itself away from textile products
manufactured by mills in Britain . He used Mani Bhawan to fine-tune his non-violent
civil disobedience movement against the British that forced them to eventually leave
India . The area was surrounded by a vast shamiana spanning five-odd buildings.
White curtains were drawn on all sides to keep prying eyes out. Security was also
tight in the area during the visit. Locals expressed their disappointment at not being
allowed a glimpse of the Obamas’. The Obamas who arrived here this afternoon,
reached Mani Bhavan in a cavalcade of over 24 cars, including two limousines, six
mini buses and a SWAT team and an ambulance. Located in a comparatively quiet
locality in the Gamdevi precinct, this modest building served as Gandhi's
headquarters in Mumbai for about 17 eventful years from 1917-1934. It belonged to
Shri Revashankar Jagjeevan Jhaveri, who was Gandhi's friend and his host during
that period, and to the Mani family prior to that. In 1955, the building was taken over
by the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi and converted into a memorial to the Mahatma, who
frequently stayed here and initiated political activities. It was here that he learnt to
weave fibre on the charkha and drank goat's milk for the first time, besides gradually
changing his attire from western tailored suits to the unstitched loin cloth he wore to
the end. Visitors come to see the room that Gandhiji occupied, its picture gallery, the
library hall and terrace, where he was arrested on January 4, 1932.
