As January 30 marks the death anniversary of the father of the nation, Delhi’s Gandhi Smriti was expected to be visited by many in the capital. Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary is marked as Martyrs’ Day and many people visited Gandhi Smriti but were left disappointed as it remained shut for “security reasons”.
Gandhi Smriti formerly known as Birla House, is a museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, in New Delhi. It is the location where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life before he was assassinated on 30 January 1948.
Even as several senior leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attended an “Inter Faith Prayer Meet”, the museum remained closed for public. A notice outside Gandhi Smriti read, “Due to security reasons, Gandhi Smriti, 5 tees January Marg, New Delhi-110011 will remain closed from January 29,2020 12.00 noon to January 30,2020, 5.30 pm. The Museum will remain open for general public from 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm on January 30, 2020.”
Several visitors to the museum were left disappointed on Thursday morning as they were asked to leave. Satya Pal, an octogenarian, who comes to Gandhi Smriti every year on Martyr’s Day went home disappointed as he was not allowed to enter.
“They are preparing for some government programme where you can enter only with a pass. They should not close it for the public. I come every year. This has not happened ever,” Mr. Pal said.
About two weeks ago there was a furore about digitisation of photographs kept in this museum. Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Tushar Gandhi expressed his disappointment, “The photographs are running on LED screens like a slideshow with no text. There was no reason why such beautiful prints of Bresson were removed. It’s like removing the paintings of the Rennaissance painters from the Louvre and replacing them digitally. There is no text to explain the situation and people don’t get to know anything from them. There are eyewitnesses accounts of journalists which people used to read. When it comes on the screen without any text, it is just like any other photograph.”
The digitisation was carried on recommendation of PM Modi and the Ministry of Culture.
Since some regular visitors to the museum said that the museum has never been kept shut on January 30, suspicion arises whether this was done because people would get irked by the digitisation of photos in the museum leading to the museum losing its authenticity.
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