The PTI report published in today’s newspapers states that the house where Gandhiji stayed in Johannesburg (S.Africa) for years and organised struggles on behalf of Indians against the the British colonialists, is made in to a hotel/museum. It is reported that the house was purchased by French Travel company, Voyageurs du Monde, two years ago from the owners of the house.
I had visited the house some four years back, when I had gone to attend the Trade Union International Conference held at Johannesburg. It was a well maintained house with the articles and things used by Gandhiji. Many photoes and other memorials were there. There was a printing press nearby, where the pamphlets etc. were printed. It was in a calm atmosphere and place.
It is a memorial to the Father of Indian Nation during his period of struggles in South Africa. When the auction has taken place, Indian Government should have taken it. It was not a question of money, but a question of the honour of our nation and Mahatmaji. Why the Government of India allowed it to be taken by a hotel for commercial purposes? Even now, the Government can try to get it back and keep it as a memorial to one of the greatest person India ever had.
Once again, this news emphasise that the corporates and big business are the sections which control the world. In India itself, almost all the palaces of the old kings are converted in to hotels.’Money can purchase any thing’ has become the order of the day. But at least in the case of the Father of the Nation, his residence could have been made a memorial to him.