In October 2021, the Gujarat government embarked upon an ambitious project to redevelop Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram. It said it would expand the Ashram from five acres to about 55 acres by relocating the approximately 275 families who lived on the premises as well as other trusts. Nearly two years since, the relocation is still ongoing and concerns about redevelopment persist.
Families were given the option of being compensated with cash, flats, or land plots. Most of the residential properties belong to the descendants of those who settled in the Ashram in the early 1900s.
The State authorities recently allotted a plot of 3,400 sq m to rehabilitate 23 families who live on the premises of the Ashram. These families have formed a cooperative housing society to build their new houses on the plot given by the State government in the Vadaj area. Over a dozen families are yet to be rehabilitated.
In April this year, the Ahmedabad civic body, which is implementing the project, razed more than 50 slum dwellings opposite the Ashram citing encroachment on a town planning scheme as the reason. In an affidavit submitted in the High Court, the civic body argued that the demolition was essential in the interest of the development of the Gandhi Ashram Memorial and Precinct Development Project. The civic body and revenue authorities maintain that those dwellings were not entitled to the rehabilitation package. According to sources, the entire rehabilitation exercise will likely be completed in the next two to three months after which the real redevelopment work will begin. However, there are concerns that the State authorities have not held any open public consultations.
The Ashram was approximately 120 acres when it was established in 1917. Its buildings were spread across 47 acres along the Sabarmati river. During Mahatma Gandhi’s time in the Ashram from 1917 to 1930, there were 63 buildings within the Ashram’s premises. Today, only 43 of the original buildings remain.
“The area that is known to the world as the Gandhi Ashram today is merely five acres. The Ashram will be expanded to include all the original 43 buildings... and made accessible to all visitors,” a State government presentation said. “Since most of the original buildings lie outside today’s Ashram, visitors get an incomplete sense of how the original Ashram functioned and how it embodied Gandhiji’s philosophy. Many of the original buildings are also in disrepair. To add to this, the atmosphere of the Ashram is also rudely disrupted by the noise of traffic, and it is often crowded on account of the increasing number of visitors,” it added.
The redevelopment plan includes closing the busy four-lane road that passes through the Ashram area and making all land parcels belonging to different trusts and residential properties a contiguous area.
Last year, in an affidavit in the High Court, the State government had informed the court that the five trusts on the premises are on board and have approved the redevelopment project prepared by the government. The Ashram is now managed by the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust.
Following the affidavit, the Court dismissed a PIL filed by Gandhi’s great grandson, Tushar Gandhi, who had challenged the redevelopment plan. “The proposed project will not only uphold the ideas and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi which would be for the benefit of society and mankind at large but the said Gandhi Ashram will be a place for learning for mankind of all age groups,” the court said.
At least 130 personalities from various walks of life including Gandhi’s grandson, Rajmohan Gandhi, have opposed the plan, calling it the “second assassination of the Mahatma”.
Sudarshan Iyengar, former Vice Chancellor of Gujarat Vidhyapith and a trustee of SAPMT, has said redevelopment is a step in the right direction. Kartikey Sarabhai, another trustee, has also supported the move. The State government has emphatically held that the redevelopment project will be done in a manner that is respectful of the original Ashram’s ethos as it will retain the values that Gandhiji preached — austerity, simplicity, and authenticity.
Yet, doubts remain. This is because while the State authorities have said the revamped Ashram will retain the philosophy of Gandhi, it has also emphasised making the Ashram a “tourist place” with modern amenities. This, feel many Gandhians, will reduce a sacred place to a “State-run amusement park.”
