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Disney is coming to Sabarmati

 Imagine a statue of Nathuram Godse welcoming tourists to Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat. What is being planned for Sabarmati by Narendra Modi is quite as bewildering as that. Having killed the soul of Jallianwala Bagh with the renovation of the historical site, Modi, with the Chief Minister of Gujarat, is all set to convert Gandhi’s Ashram into an Indian version of Disneyland.

A sum of Rs 1200 crore has been set aside for the project. Apart from modernised museums and a modified amphitheatre, the Ashram will now have food courts and shopping complexes besides a parking space for 200 cars. Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in a prominent public place in Ahmedabad, sculpted by none less than Kanti Patel, will be transferred to the new Sabarmati. That’s a clever strategy for reducing the visibility of the statue!

The sparrows and squirrels that now share space with human beings will vanish with their habitat-trees.

Human beings were already dispossessed of their lands for the construction of the Sabarmati Riverfront Park when Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat. The remaining few human beings will be thrown out from the area now by the current new project. Gandhi will move out by himself, I guess.

Hriday Kunj

Gandhi’s beloved residence, Hriday Kunj, will also vanish when Bimal Patel’s firm, HCP Design, Planning and Management, will bring its bulldozers and earthmovers to the 54-acre land. This is the same firm that is building the Central Vista in Delhi, Modi’s pet project, a palace for himself – a project which felled 1838 trees from the world’s most polluted city.

Modi usurps Gandhi at Hriday Kunj

Modi dared to replace the Mahatma in Khadi India’s calendar in 2017. He dared to sit on the same veranda of Hriday Kunj where Gandhi used to sit with his charka, yes the same one Modi usurped. The irony becomes shocking when you realise that Modi is an RSS man, the same organisation to which Naturam Godse belonged.

Recently Modi bhakts evicted Nehru from posters of freedom fighters. Will Gandhi be now evicted from his own Sabarmati? One thing is certain: Gandhi won’t like the Disneyland that Bimal Patel will build in Sabarmati. Who cares, right? We are in a new India, one which is Disneyfying history itself.  

Comments

  1. Yamini MacLeanSeptember 2, 2021 at 6:48 PM

    Hari OM
    Shocking. I had not heard this news before reading this. I am aghast. That photo had also escaped my notice - and all I see in it is mockery. That Godse is now being 'worshipped' by RSS and other strong nationalists is beyond bizarre... and I see nothing on the diplomatic horizon to demonstrate that other world powers are paying any proper attention to what is going on, to have a word in his ear, "look here old man, this just isn't cricket..." ai-yoh... YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 2, 2021 at 7:20 PM

      The current India frightens me because a vast majority of people including some of my own friends are supporters of all that Modi is doing. India is moving in a wrong direction altogether.

      Delete
  2. Pooja MahimkarSeptember 6, 2021 at 1:57 PM

    I didn't know about this and this is just horrifying. The Jallianwala Bagh pictures upset me deeply. I remember visiting the place a few years ago and just walking through that lane made me tear up because it made me feel real and imagine the things that happened there, the new pictures barely summon any emotions

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 6, 2021 at 4:50 PM

      Perhaps the most grievous tragedy is that all these changes have ulterior motives whose impacts on the nation's psyche are going to be long-lasting.

      Delete
  3. Rajeev MoothedathSeptember 6, 2021 at 10:57 PM

    These days news persons do not cover these things widely and so much is happening so fast that most people do not know of the many steady changes being made...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 7, 2021 at 5:03 AM

      One of the tragedies in India now is that popular news media have become lapdogs. Others are driven underground almost.

      Delete

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