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The photo-exhibition at the National Rail Museum revealed how Mahatma Gandhi relied on trains to reach out to the masses.
The railways have not only integrated different regions and the people of India but also enriched the country’s social, economic and political life. During the freedom struggle, it helped bring a consciousness among the people about the country’s unity.
The phenomenal growth of the railways in India and the emergence of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in India’s freedom struggle are inextricably linked. An indefatigable traveller, Gandhi travelled extensively through the length and breadth of the country to make the freedom struggle a mass movement. He also made railways rise to the occasion during famines, earthquakes and other natural calamities in providing relief and succour to the masses. In fact, the railways are a testimony to the impact the Mahatma has made on the nation’s history.
As a tribute to Bapu on his 132nd birth anniversary and to highlight the role of the railways in the freedom struggle, the National Rail Museum organised a photo-exhibition on its premises from October 2 to 7, 2001. The 70 photographs displayed in the exhibition revolved around the theme: Mahatma Gandhi and Railways.
The exhibition showed how Gandhiji’s real romance with Indian Railways began after he finally returned to India in January 1915. For the next 33 years till his death, trains were the primary mode of Gandhi’s transport. He always travelled in the third class to be one with India’s poor masses and reflected a lot on conditions of travel at that time-overcrowding, insensitive railway bureaucracy, lack of hygiene, dirty habits of travellers, ticketless travelling and observance of social prejudices.
Gandhi made significant statements and comments about the railways which are appropriate even in today’s social milieu. With his typical thoroughness, Gandhi published pamphlets in Gujarati on conditions of third class travel and distributed them gratis. Excerpts from his comments published in Kathiawad Times on July 26, 1916:
“To the authorities, I shall say:
If you are a station master, you can remove many of the hardships of passengers. Using courtesy in your dealings with poor passengers, you can set an example to your subordinates.
If you are a ticket collector...the poor should receive the same time and attention that you give to first and second-class passengers.
The railways depend on the poor for their existence and you owe your salaries largely to the money received from them.
If you are a policeman, you should refrain from accepting bribes...understand that you are servants of the people and not their masters...
To educated passengers, I shall say:
If you use your patriotism in doing good to the illiterate and poor passengers....you will be doing national service...”
Some more valuable observations by Gandhi on railway authorities are reflected in his advice to Station Master, Patna on May 8, 1947:
“It is your duty to blow the whistle and start the train at the correct time, even if the highest official may be in the train... So the rule which applies to other passengers in the train also applies to me.”
On the need to maintain railway property, Gandhi said at a prayer meeting in New Delhi on October 28, 1947:
“The passengers should consider the railways as their own property. They should keep the trains clean. They should not spit and smoke in the trains and should not pull the chain without real need. And not a single passenger should travel without ticket. Then I would be able to say that we have attained true independence.”
The photographs displayed at the exhibition also showed Mahatma’s gradual rise as the unchallenged leader of the freedom struggle and his first as well as last journey on Indian Railways. A booklet on Mahatma Gandhi and Railways compiled by National Gandhi Museum for NRM was available for those interested in reading about Gandhi’s invaluable observations on railways, both in South Africa and India.
The exhibition generated a huge response. In fact, it was the most popular one related to Gandhi in the capital. On the last day, rail manch was organised at the NRM. The joy train platform was converted into a stage. Microphones were suspended from the roof of the platform and visitors enjoyed a live drama enacted in-house showing the regular hustle bustle on a railway platform-movement of coolies, passengers rushing to and fro, hawkers peddling their wares and so on. Various scenes on a platform were also enacted, each underscoring the need for discipline, punctuality, cleanliness and safety.
Defying Trend
The National Rail Museum has registered an impressive growth in attendance for the month of September 2001, despite a significant drop in tourist activity after the World Trade Centre attack on September 11. Exuding optimism, Rajesh Agrawal, director of NRM says: “There has been a 21 per cent increase over the corresponding figure last year. While NRM attracted 21,252 visitors in September 2000, the numbers have gone up to 25,829 this September. Even the shortage of CNG buses has failed to dampen the spirit of schools in sending their children to NRM.”
Agrawal is confident that the number of people flocking to NRM this year will touch the 3.5 lakh mark as against 3 lakh last year.
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