AHMEDABAD: Former West Bengal governor and Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi has donated 550 letters between Bapu, Kasturba, Sardar Patel, Mahadev Desai, and his father Devdas Gandhi (Mahatma’s youngest son) to Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust on Friday. The collection also includes special envelopes made by Sardar Patel while in jail.
These unpublished letters were to form part of the 100 volumes of the collected works of Mahatma Gandhi. Devdas Gandhi had desired to compile these letters himself and publish them with his own notes. However, his death in 1957 stalled the project. The intimate letters include Bapu’s editing instruction to Devdas on certain articles as well as Kasturba remembering Devdas and expressing her desire to meet him.
The letters have been translated and annotated over six years by Gandhian scholar Tridip Suhrud and Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
Devdas had spent several years in jail during the freedom struggle and Bapu kept in touch with him. The letters will be published in English and Gujarati by Navajivan Trust.
“In fact, Devdas Gandhi was the first to inform Bapu of the Chauri Chaura incident where non-violent protesters had clashed with British police. There are a total of 190 letters by Bapu, handwritten between 1920 and 1948. Among these are 21letters that Bapu wrote to Devdas during the 21 days of fast for Hindu-Muslim unity. Among the collection are Sardar Patel’s letter to Devdas on the occasion of his marriage and Bapu’s appointment diary during his visit to Britain in 1931for the Second Round Table Conference.