VIJAYAWADA: Memories of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi will be digitised to preserve them for posterity. The National Gandhi Museum in Delhi is urging the Gandhi memorials across the country to equip themselves with digital multi-media modes.
“There is so much about Gandhi that people of this nation need to know. We have a very rich collection of original relics, books, Gandhi’s speeches, letters and other writings, journals and documents, photographs, audio-visual material and other memorabilia closely connected to the Mahatma, all worth some 60,000 papers, which we plan to put in the public domain now,” A. Annamalai, Director of National Gandhi Museum, told The Hindu .
Mr. Annamalai was in the city to attend a meeting organised to plan the proposed year-long 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi from October 2 in 2018. The Delhi Museum has asked all State units of Gandhi Bhavans and museums to adopt user-friendly technology and equip multi-media mode with a promise to supply them with material such as photographs and audio-visual stuff.
Gandhi museum in Chennai
“For instance, the Karnataka Government intends to set up a Gandhi Bhavan in each district of that State. In Mysuru, it has created a replica of Hriday Kunj at Sabarmati Ashram, which had served as a residence for the Mahatma. Besides, it is also planning to construction an e-museum in Bangalore. The Tamil Nadu Government has agreed in principle to construct a Gandhi museum in Guindy.”
Mr. Annamalai said Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu had expressed keen interest in setting up a Gandhi museum in Andhra Pradesh. “The idea is to start such museums in every State capital across the country on this occasion. We do not have funds, we can only supply relevant material to equip these museums,” he said.
Referring to the work of travelogue writer, journalist and documentary film maker A.K. Chettiar, who is believed to have made the first documentary film on Gandhi, Mr. Annamalai said the film, which was dubbed in Hindi and Tamil, would soon be available in Telugu and Kannadiga too.
A BBC interview, which was later published in the form of a book Talking of Gandhi and Gandhi’s several original documents, would now be made accessible to the public at large, he said.
The Centre has also identified a few places where Gandhi visited. For instance, the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha at T.Nagar in Chennai where Gandhi stayed whenever he visited that State will be groomed into prominence.
“Gandhi had very good connections with people of Tamil and Telugu-speaking lands. They had supported him ardently in his movement in South Africa; he had strong faith in them,” he said, adding that the Mahatma visited Tamil Nadu some 20 times.
“We are trying to complete it by 2018 so as to enable people to gain access to every aspect of the Mahatma’s life,” he said.
