Ranchi family preserves the room and the car Gandhi Ji used for a day

The Jaiswal family in the Kokar area of Ranchi has preserved the room in which Mahatma Gandhi stayed and the car he used for the past 80 years. They took out the car on October 2 this year to mark the end of the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation.

The Government at the Centre largely ignored the event but thanks to the Jaiswals, Ranchi recalled the Mahatma’s day long stay here in 1940 while on his way to Ramgarh, approximately 75 kilometres from here.

The Jaiswal family recall that their ancestors Khedan Lal and Sir Girdhari Lal had migrated to Ranchi from Jamalpur. Two of their ancestors, Rai Saheb Laxmi Narayan and his brother Ram Narayan drove Gandhi Ji to Ramgarh. They too attended the Congress session and returned after Gandhi Ji decided to board the train from Ranchi Road Station and return.

The room where Mahatma Gandhi stayed, the cot and the chairs in the room have all been retained. The great grandson of Rai Saheb Laxmi Narayan, Aditya Vikram Jaiswal, who heads the Professional Cell of Jharkhand Congress, invited JPCC president Rameshwar Oraon and others to drive with him to Bapu Vatika in Morabadi to pay tributes to the Father of the Nation. The function was attended by Tana Bhagats, tribal followers of the Mahatma who continue to follow him.

Aditya Vikram informs that one of his ancestors Khedan Lal was died of poisoning in Ranchi Jail where he was detained for his nationalist views. His great grandfather Rai Bahadur Thakur Das who had received Knighthood from the British surrendered the title when Gandhiji launched the Non-Cooperation movement.

The car used by Gandhi Ji and a Chevrolet used by Maulana Azad have been preserved by the family in running condition as the Jaisawals have a motor workshop in their compound itself.