Pilgrimage to Maharashtra – 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

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Pilgrimage to Maharashtra – Mahatma Gandhi

 

Mahatma Gandhi spent a lot of time in Maharashtra. He did his maximum activities here. There are so many political leaders, who inspired him. He loved Maharashtra very much, So he gave pilgrimage to Maharashtra - A visit to the province in which Lokamanya Tilak Maharaj was born, the province which has produced heroes in the modern age, which gave Shivaji and in which Ramdas and Tukaram flourished, is for me nothing less than a pilgrimage. I have always believed that Maharashtra, if it wills, can do anything. Its skepticism, however, is

every a cause of grief to me. I always feel that he province in which the best work can be done has done the least. I gather that the workers in Maharashtra hold the same view. After leaving simla, I went to Kalka and then to Ambala. From there I proceeded to Khandwa in the Central Provinces and thence to Bhusaval, Sangamner and Yeola. I am writing these notes on my way to Kurduwadi. For going there, one has to go from Yeola to Dhond and change trains there. As our train arrived late at Dhond and the connecting train had already left, I got some experience of Dhond as well. I felt that the masses everywhere had the same faith but there were not enough workers. people lack capacity for organization, there is no end to noise and bustle and they get crowds of people to fill station platforms. As for the result, however, I found it poor in Bhusaval, Sangamner and Yeola at any rate, though he people who had invited me to these places were capable workers.

Where have we now the time for all this fuss and shouts of victory and bending to touch my feet in reverence? If we can spare time to go to station platforms, why not spend it in plying the spinning-wheet? Why not use it in collecting contributions to the National Fund? Do we not have to enrol a large number of Congress members? The position now is that we shall be able to complete the programme before the end of June, as decided, only if we work round the clock. Though two months have elapsed, we have not done even two-thirds of the work, not even one-half. If we fail to complete the programme of work by the end of June, it will only show that our will and capacity to win swaraj are not great.

The collections at Bhusaval and Sangamner could be taken as on the whole satisfactory, but at Yeola, I must say, the collections came almost to nothing. Yeola is a rich town. It has Gujarati business men settled there for the last 200 years and yet the amount collected there for the Tilak Swaraj Fund was the smallest. It is true, of course, that one person alone in Yeola gave Rs. 20,000 for a national school. But, then negotiations for the donation had been going on for a long time.

The donor, besides, is well known for his charitable disposition. For the Tilak Fund, however, contributions were to be collected from the general public. The total collections from all, men and women, must have come hardly to Rs. 300, while a small village near Yeola, which we passed on the way, gave the same amount.

 

Reference:

Navajivan, 29-5-1921