Odisha's Beraboi where Mahatma Gandhi had spent seven days awaits recognition 

Mahatma Gandhi travelled across India during the freedom struggle and left his mark wherever he went. The places are now popular tourist attractions on account of their historic significance and association with Bapu, the Father of the Nation. But what about the small hamlet Beraboi under Delang block in Puri district where fourth annual conference of Gandhi Seva Sangha was held. 

Gandhi Ji had spent seven days at this village along with his family and other prominent leaders. Though the village bears the signature of the glory from the historical past, it cries for attention thanks to indifference attitude of the government. What left there is only Kasturba Seva Kendra and a statue of Mahatma Gandhi to commemorate the annual event every year. Without exaggeration, it can be said that the place gets its ritual attention on Gandhi Jayanti, National holidays like August 15 and January 26 and anniversary of Gandhi Sabha. A reality check by OTV...

History

After Gandhi’s return from South Africa, he toured extensively across the country by train to gain knowledge about the social and economic condition of the Indians. It was then when he came to know that eighty per cent of Indians lived in villages and they were struck by poverty and overloaded with superstitions. Gandhi Ji was of the view that if the simple villagers were not thorough about the theme of Independence and capable of carrying the pledge of Independence then it would be impossible to attain freedom.  So, he determined to develop village and cottage industries and in that way make the villagers economically self sufficient. He was of the opinion that that without self sufficiency of villages, India will never be a self sufficient country and in that scenario it will always depend on the mercy of other nations. This type of freedom may only be branded as political freedom. This made him to put stress on ‘Gram Swaraj’ and prepared a programme for the Congress workers to work in villages known as “Gaon Chalo”. But the top level Congress leaders showed little interest to work for the future of seven lakh villages. Thus, Gandhiji formed a ‘Seva Sangha’ with 86 dedicated sevakas. Later on it was known as ‘Gandhi Seva Sangha’ which came into being in 1924. After formation of the Swaraj party, the no-changers formed this association in order to keep the principles and programmes of Gandhi intact. Five noted personalities from Odisha, Pandit Krupasindhu Hota, Acharya Harihar Das, Gopabandhu Choudhury, Ramadevi and Vinod Kanungo enrolled themselves as members of Gandhi Seva Sangha. They were away from active politics and worked hand in hand for upliftment of the needy.

By 1938 there were eleven centres of Gandhi Seva Sangha in Odisha and one of them was Seva Kutir at Berboi in Puri district coined and promulgated by Krupasindhu Hota in 1934. The three-roomed ashram housed inmates like Sunamani Devi, Binodini Devi and others. The activities of this ashram revolved round spinning of cotton, women’s education and social service. The occasional visits of Acharya Harihar and Gopabandhu Choudhury used to help the implementation of constructive programme in the locality.

In the third annual conference of Gandhi Seva Sangha at Huduli, Karnataka, it was decided to organize the 4th Annual conference of the Sangha in Odisha. The delegates of Odisha in the Huduli conference decided to hold the 4th conference at Beraboi.

Gandhian Biswanath Parida was given the charge to conduct a survey about availability of milk in that area while another Gandhian Surendra Patnaik started the collection of food grains and persuaded the nearby villagers to produce vegetables in order to meet the requirements of the conference. Satyabadi Nanda toured all over Odisha to collect various items of Orissan handicrafts for the proposed exhibition and demonstrators to display that. Upendra Kishore Das, Manmohan Choudhury and Nipendra Narayan Sengupta were given the charge of exhibition and decoration. Rama Devi was in charge of supply of typical Orissan foods to the guests. Krupasindhu Hota personally supervised the construction of temporary houses by bamboos, coconut leaves and palm leaves to house the participants of the session. Gokulananda Mohanty worked as treasurer. More than 400 thatched hutments were constructed for their stay alongside the ponds and inside the paddy fields. On  25 March 25, 1938, Mahatma Gandhi landed at Beraboi 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 who attended the conclave were Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Acharya J.B Kripalini, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Dr Prafulla Chandra Ghosh, Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, R.R. Dibakar, Jamnalal Bajaj, Anna Saheb.

"Though the place holds importance, it is sad that nothing has been done to make the people aware regarding the place and beautify it. The state government has not done anything to attract footfalls to the place. In 2001 former Governor MM Rajendran unveiled the statue of National Father to mark golden jubilee celebrations of Government High School, Beraboi. Moreover, Kasturba Seva Kendra is not in a good shape," locals said. 

What Seva Kendra coordinator says

Kabitarani Parida who has been looking after Kasturba Seva Kendra since 1994, says “Gandhi’s ardent followers Krupasindu Hota and his sister-in-law Sunamani Devi had set up Gandhi Seva Kutir at Beraboi which was earlier known as Harijansahi in 1934. Their major concerns were to remove untouchability, educate woman and create awareness on use of toilets in every household.  Thanks to efforts of Krupasindhu Hota, Ramadevi and Gopabandhu Choudhury, 4th Gandhi Seva Sangha was held here.  Accompanied by Kasturaba, Durgaben, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, Rajendra Prasad, Acharya Krupalini, Mahadev Dasai and many other leaders of the time. Mahatma Gandhi made seven trips between 1921 and 1938. He visited Odisha for the seventh time on last week of March, 1938 to attend fourth annual conference of Gandhi Seva Sangha and Utkal Khadi and Village Industry exhibition at Beraboi.”

She says, “For their accommodation, as many as 400 thatched hutments were constructed alongside the paddy fields. During his seven-day 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 the Cottage industry, production of indigenous products, and economic development of the nation. 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.”  

Till 1942 Seva Kutir was running smoothly. In the year 1942, the government had declared seva kutir illegal. Police raided the building and in the process its function got hampered for a few years. In 1972, some samaritans of the locality requested Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust to revive the seva kutir at Beraboi as a result of which Kasturba Seva Kendra came into being in 1945.”
Since 1945 to till date, continuous efforts have been and are being made by Beraboi-based Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust or the Kasturba Seva Kendra to find out permanent solution of problems being faced by the women in mass  apart from creating awareness among people regarding Gandhian principles. We take every possible effort to make the woman strong and self-independent.”

“Earlier, pregnant women from six-seven villages used to depend on Kasturba Seva Kendra for delivery. After Janani Surakhya Yojana was introduced by the state government, women stopped coming to Seva Kendra for delivery. That apart, it has been working to strengthen early childhood education in this locality through its Balwadi (pre-school) programme.  As many as 50 students come to the Balwadi everyday. They are given snacks and meals everyday. With the help of Kasturba Seva Kendra, we have removed untochability completely from this locality. You would be surprised to know that the lathi Gandhi was using was gifted by Acharya Harihar Das during his stay here. Delang block has achieved complete literacy thanks to Kasturba Seva Kendra also. We hold competitions among students to commemorate Gandhi’s visit every year on March 25”, says Kabitarani Parida, coordinator of Kasturba Seva Kendra.

It is pity that people of Odisha are hardly aware of existence of a place where Gandhi Ji had spent seven days with his family and others. Apart from government attention, if Gandhi’s visit would be included in syllabus people would come to know about it.

When asked about freedom fighter who attended the Gandhi Seva conclave, she says, “We had one freedom fighter Baman Charan Swain who attended the conclave but he breathed his last at the age of 102.

Government’s false assurance

In 2021, the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had announced to develop the Gandhi Memorial and to establish a model school in Beraboi keeping Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to Beraboi in mind. However, the state government has failed to keep its words.