At the height of the Independence struggle in 1920, a group of young freedom fighters from Bikram, in erstwhile Bihar, were training in arms and ammunition on an island in the Sone River in Dullahpur village in preparation for a secret mission. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar, in 1919, had enraged youths in Bikram and in other parts of the country and they vowed to avenge the deceased.
Local fighters embarked on a mission to attack police stations and other British establishments in the region. While searching for a place to rest for the night, they met Basharat Miyan, a land-owning peasant from Khoraitha village on the outskirts of Patna, who offered them one acre of his land for shelter.
This shelter soon became a hub frequented by political stalwarts such as Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Rajendra Prasad, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Satish Chandra Chatterjee (renowned educationist), Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee (revolutionary freedom fighter), and Maulana Azad (independence activist, writer and a senior Congress leader). They would gather here to discuss strategies and offer guidance and support to local freedom fighters.
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In 1921, Mahatma Gandhi laid the foundation stone for the site, which was thereafter called the Gandhi Ashram of Khoraitha. According to local people, the ashram served as an essential refuge for Bikram’s freedom fighters during the struggle for Independence. Sudarshan Sharma, a social activist from Raghopur Patut village, Bikram, who is the son of Parashuram Singh, a freedom fighter who took part in the Quit India movement, says crusaders of all beliefs would gather at the ashram. “There were those who firmly believed in Gandhi’s philosophy of Satyagraha, and peaceful marches as well as those who believed in the violent path. Both groups shared common space at the site.”
Bose first visited the ashram in August 1939 after parting ways with the Indian National Congress to discuss his new political party, The Forward Bloc. Several political strategy meetings also took place at the ashram during the flag satyagraha of Nagpur and Jabalpur in 1923 (triggered by the arrest of nationalist protestors demanding the right to hoist the Indian flag), the Salt Satyagraha of 1930, and the Quit India movement.
According to Bharti Sharma, senior archivist at the Bihar State Archives (BSA), the ashram witnessed an act of protest during the Quit India movement. Enthused by the Mahatma’s call of “Do or Die,” the freedom fighters of Bikram hoisted erstwhile Indian flags over the police stations in the area. In response, British officers opened fire. Hundreds were injured and four died, as per the BSA records.
Post-Independence
Political activities continued to be conducted in the ashram even after Independence. Philosophers and advocates also began visiting. Indian advocate for non-violence and human rights, Vinoba Bhave, along with his two brothers, spent months at the ashram encouraging local landowners to donate their land to the landless, say BSA’s records.
Room where Mahatma Gandhi spent time during the inauguration of the ashram in Khoraitha, Bikram, Bihar, in 1921. | Photo Credit: Syamal Das
More than 75 years later, most of the freedom fighters have passed away; and with them, so did the ashram’s significance, says Sharma. Despite its role in facilitating anti-British agitations, and sheltering freedom fighters and revolutionaries during the freedom struggle, the Bihar State government has neglected it. In response to this, Sharma says, several descendants of Bikram’s freedom fighters submitted a letter to the Paliganj sub-division office. In 2018, the ashram was declared a government property. “Despite this nothing has been done for its preservation,” he says.
The lack of State-led maintenance and care has left the site in disarray. Arun Kumar Azad, whose father Ramvaran Sharma aka “Veer Balak” took part in the Quit India movement, points to the widespread negligence and carelessness of people in Bihar as the reason behind the site’s present condition. The rooms andverandah are uncleaned and the premises are covered with human and animal excreta. The tiled roof has been replaced with tin sheets and the walls are in poor condition. According to Sudarshan, the ashram has no electricity connection.
Another Gandhi Ashram
In Bihar’s West Champaran district, Mahatma Gandhi and his wife Kasturba Gandhi set up another Gandhi Ashram at Bhitiharwa village during the Champaran Satyagraha (the first Satyagraha movement led by the Mahatma in Champaran, which saw farmer’s revolt against the British-imposed indigo cultivation) in 1917. The Bhitiharwa Ashram was extensively re-developed by the Bihar State government in 2017, the centenary year of the Champaran Satyagraha, and is now a part of Bihar Tourism’s Gandhi Circuit.
The writer is seen with the descendants of freedom fighters of Bikram and other locals at the Gandhi Aashram, Khoraitha, Bihar. | Photo Credit: Syamal Das
The ashram at Khoraitha, however, has never been re-developed. Neeraj Sharma from Khoraitha village secretary of the Ashram and the Shaheed Smarak Vikas Samiti (SSVS), an association founded by children of freedom fighters to preserve and protect the Ashram, notesthe discrepancies between Khoraitha’s Ashram and the one at West Champaran. “While the Gandhi Ashram at West Champaran was extensively re-developed by the government in light of the Satyagraha’s centenary year, the one at Khoraitha is still neglected.”
Currently, the ashram is under the control of Patna’s district administration. Azad says a large part of the Ashram’s land is exposed to encroachments. “We expected the State government to re-develop and maintain the site as they did the for the one at West Champaran.”
Local people say that they wish for the ashram to be preserved as a memorial to the freedom movement and for the development of a museum, library, and conference hall to hold functions on special occasions.
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Azad, who is also chairman of the Ashram and the SSVS, says a secret training camp that his father and other trainee freedom fighters used has disappeared. “The site is now used for paddy cultivation. During the struggle for Independence, Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, a revolutionary freedom fighter, inaugurated the camp,” he says. According to the BSA’s archives, most freedom fighters from Bikram who participated in the Quit India movement, trained at the camp.
Sharma says that with the training camp’s loss, an important part of the freedom struggle’s history is lost. “But we still have the Gandhi Ashram. This needs to be preserved as a memorial to the freedom movement because this generation should know that people of Bikram also participated in the struggle and many lost their lives.”
Steps for preservation
Shashank Shekhar, member of the SSVS, says the association made requests to the local administration to preserve the ashram as a memorial. “In May 2023, the SSVS submitted a letter to the Paliganj sub-division office, requesting the Art, Culture and Youth Department under the Bihar government to re-develop the ashram and add the site to the Gandhi Circuit list.” He adds that there has been no response.
However, Chandrashekhar Singh, District Magistrate of Patna says there are steps being taken to ensure its survival. He says the sub-divisional officer of Paliganj has been directed to give a comprehensive proposal for the ashram’s re-development. “We will send it to the government for implementation,” he says and adds that the ashram is a historical building that “must be preserved.”
Reena Sopam is a journalist and author based in Patna.
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