Vande Mataram, the signature tune of India’s freedom struggle, was first sung in Gujarat in 1906 at an intricately carved haveli in Dhobi ni Pol. The haveli, called the United Bengal Home, is crumbling to dust today, raising cries of protest among local residents.
Behind the facade that is still standing, the three-storey building has been hollowed out with only a skeleton remaining. Some residents claim it is not just the vagaries of time that brought it down. They allege it is being pulled down without requisite permissions.
Around 200 residents of Dhobi ni Pol and neighbouring areas have launched a signature campaign to save the structure and are requesting the state government to declare it as a protected monument. Letters have been sent to all top authorities, including chief minister Narendra Modi. The residents have threatened to start a major protest if the haveli is not preserved. It was in this building that freedom fighters from Bengal came to the city and lived in 1906. Much before Mahatma Gandhi’s arrival, they introduced Amdavadis to the idea of ‘swadeshi’ and sang Vande Mataram for the first time. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) even celebrated Netaji Shubhash Chandra Bose’s birth centenary here in 1997.
In 2007, AMC published a book – ‘Amdavad ni Krantiyatra’ – and identified the haveli as a memorial to the freedom struggle. Former Gujarat assembly speaker Ashok Bhatt had even appealed to the Central government to declare it a national monument. Before the freedom fighters arrived, the building was called Divan Venishanker ni Haveli.
“The haveli is damaged beyond repair,” says Ashutosh Bhatt, general secretary of Khadia Itihas Samiti. “In the last few months, a major portion of the haveli is mysteriously missing. We demand that the construction work must be supervised by AMC.”
Times View
I t is a very encouraging sign that residents of Ahmedabad are taking the cause of heritage in their hands. This is a result of a sustained campaign to sensitize the people of this 600 year old city to be proud of their past and actively participate in its preservation and conservation. The Times of India salutes this spirit of Amdavadis.
