Gandhi Ashram 'redevelopment': Whither well-known Gandhi experts, Gandhians?

Sudarshan Iyengar, Ramchandra Guha

By Rajiv Shah

Rehabilitating about 200 families, mostly Dalits, living in the Gandhi Ashram premises by offering them Rs 60 lakh in order to implement a Rs 1,200 crore project called Gandhi Ashram Memorial and Precinct Development Project reportedly to bring the Ashram into its "original shape" as Gandhi established appears to me strange, to say the least.

The residents of the ashram premises have been approached to sign a consent letter agreeing to vacate their homes, according to which, either shift they shift to an alternative residential colony or accept Rs 60 lakh as compensation. Those who have signed the consent letter are being paid Rs 20 lakh as advance. About 20 of them have accepted Rs 40 lakh on vacating their houses.
In order to rehabilitate them, a circular has been issued in the name of the Ahmedabad district collector forming an eight-member coordination committee. Instead of a Gandhian who has long been associated with the committee, Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani is the de facto chairman of the committee. The de jure chairman is the district collector.
Other members include well-known Modi man who has been in the chief minister's office to "keep an eye" on top State governance, K Kailashnathan, deputy collector JB Desai as member secretary, officer on Special Duty for the project, retired IAS officer IK Patel, who was associated with building the Statue of Unity, and Additional Commissioner of Police (Sector II) Gautam Parmar are also members.
Three Ashramites on the committee are Hemant Chauhan, Dhimant Badhiya and Shailesh Rathod (don't know if they are even locally considered important Gandhians), all of whom were reportedly part of the protesting group against forceful eviction. Architect Bimal Patel, who is said to be the brain behind the controversial Rs 20,000 crore Central Vista project, has been commissioned to prepare a detailed plan for ‘modernising’ the Gandhi ashram premises.
I have little doubt that the Ashramite families, willy nilly, will accept the government package, as they have little choice but to succumb to the powerful pressure to vacate the premises for clearing way for what is going to be another dream project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I peripherally know one family, which lives there -- they are Gandhians who have taken part in several social movements.
I have two main worries: First of all, will this project become another Mahatma Mandir, which in the name of Gandhi seeks to be a showpiece for VIPs? It's such a pain visiting the museum in Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar. You have to wait there, sometimes for a couple hours -- ad only guided tours are allowed in there. You cannot go in in your own, negating the informality of Gandhi.
Secondly, there is little noise from among the Gandhians on the type of project this one should be. I don't see a Sudarshan Iyengar, former vice chancellor, Gujarat Vidyapeeth, or chancellor an Elaben Bhatt, speak up, not to talk of those who consider themselves as top followers of Gandhi. Even well known Gandhi experts ranging from Tridip Suhrud to Ramchandra Guha haven't given their mind on the issue. Will they? Let's wait and see...

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan* A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Beyond sattvik: Purity, caste and the politics of the Indian kitchen

By Rajiv Shah A few week ago, I was forwarded an article that appeared in the British weekly The Economist . Titled “Caste and cuisine: From honeycomb curry to blood fry: India’s ‘untouchable’ cooking”, it took me back to what I had blogged about what was called a “ sattvik food festival”, an annual event organised by former Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad professor Anil Gupta.

Search This Blog