Two pieces of art on Mahatma Gandhi made by a 36-year-old artist, the son of an anganwadi worker from Navi Mumbai, have found a place at the National Salt Satyagraha Memorial and Museum at Dandi in Gujarat.
The memorial and museum was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday on Mahatma Gandhi’s 71st death anniversary.
Ravikiran Parmeshwar, whose mother works as an anganwadi worker in Airoli, said he feels proud that a painting and a mural made by him on the Father of the Nation are on display at the museum.
The memorial has statues of Mahatma Gandhi and 80 satyagrahis who had marched with him in the historic Dandi Salt March. It also has 24-narrative murals depicting various events and stories from the march.
Mr. Parmeshwar is one of the 16 artists, including one each from Japan and Portugal, whose artwork has been put on on permanent display at the museum.
After completing his primary education from a zilla parishad school in Airoli, Mr. Parmeshwar got a degree in Fine Arts. After that, he shifted his base to Goa, his native place.
He said an 8 ft. x 5 ft. painting on Mahatma Gandhi made by him has been put on display at the ‘241 gallery’ in the memorial. His 25 ft. x 15 ft. mural depicting the Mahatma picking up a handful of salt at Dandi has placed on the wall near Saifi Villa, from where visitors enter the memorial.
“I feel proud as my artwork is a part of the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, who gave the message of peace and non-violence,” Mr. Parmeshwar said. “This is a tribute to the Mahatma from me and senior professors from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, who chose me for the project,” he said.
According to Mr. Parmeshwar, last month he had made a painting of the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama during the latter’s visit to IIT Bombay. “That painting was appreciated by the IITians, following which Setu Das of the IIT-B offered me this project on a voluntary basis,” he said. “All of us were working on the project for the last one-and-a-half months and the memorial was finally dedicated to the nation on Wednesday.”
The museum is expected to be opened to the public in the first week of February, according to Mr. Parmeshwar.