Kamala Nehru Hospital and Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

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Mailing Address- C- 29, Swaraj Nagar, Panki, Kanpur- 208020, Uttar Pradesh, India

 

Kamala Nehru Hospital and Mahatma Gandhi

 

 

After my coming from Africa, I came into contact with Kamala Nehru also. She was a remarkable person. Besides being devoted to her husband as most Indian women are, she loved her country much and this love was great. She was a high-principled lady and candid enough to express her opinion if she differed on principles. She had a noble soul and whatever she did was not for show or gain or favour. Congressmen have gained the reputation of being agitators only and not being capable of constructive work, but such critics are now inclined to change their opinion. During the Civil Disobedience movement Kamala’s heart went out to the sufferers. It was then that she took active interest in the Congress Hospital which had then been started. During my last meeting with Kamala in Bombay while she was leaving for Europe for treatment, she told me that she might not come back and that I should see that the work of the hospital went on. I gave her my word then. This work is my sacred duty and I come to Allahabad especially for it. I would have gone back tomorrow after this work here, but Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru insisted upon my staying here longer. I gave my signature to the appeal for funds for this hospital, which is for five lakhs. Only half the amount has been collected. I hope you will all contribute to the fund. This hospital is not only for the United Provinces, but for all India. We should now think in terms of the whole of India. There are so many universities in the U. P., and so many students. I hope they will all help to collect funds. Then there are so many industrial magnates in Kanpur. It should not be difficult for you to raise the money. Finally, I wish God that He may give peace and rest to Kamala’s soul. 1

On the 19th instant I had the privilege of laying the foundation stone of the Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital in Allahabad before a large gathering. This hospital will be not only a fitting remembrance of the memory of a true devotee of her country and a woman of great spiritual beauty, it will be a redemption of the promise made to her by me that I would do what lay in my power to see that the work for which she had made herself responsible was carried on even after her death. She was going to Europe in search of health. The visit proved to be a search of death. As she was going she had invited me, if I could, either to join her for a brief talk during part of her journey to Bombay or to see her in Bombay. I went to Bombay. During the time that I was able to give her she asked me, if she died in Europe, to try to see that the hospital which Jawaharlal had commenced in Swaraj Bhavan and which she had laboured to keep alive was put on a permanent footing. I told her I would do what I could. That promise was partly the foundation for the appeal, to which I had become party, for funds for the Memorial. Owing to circumstances beyond my control I was not able to take much active part in collecting the funds. The appeal was made for five lacs and only half the amount has come in. At the ceremony of foundation-laying, I made an appeal to the large audience composed of the wealthy as also the poor to share the burden of making up the deficit. By judicious organization it ought to be easy to make the collection for a cause so worthy and for a memory so sacred. Able doctors of all-India reputation like Jivraj Mehta and Bidhan Chandra Roy are among the trustees. They have made themselves responsible for the proper construction, organization and management of the hospital. I hope that not only will the deficit be soon made up but the doctors will have no difficulty in securing a suitable staff for the efficient management of the hospital. 2

 

References:

 

1. 1.      The Hindustan Times, 20-11-1939
2. 2.      Harijan, 25-11-1939