the ones in which an assassin snuffed out the life of our gentle prophet Mahatma Gandhi. In Freedom at Midnight, Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre brilliantly capture the pathos of those moments that stunned the whole world and orphaned a fledgling nation.“At that instant, Nathuram’s left arm shot out, thrusting her (Manu) brutally aside. The black Beretta pistol lay exposed in his right hand. Nathuram pulled the trigger three times. Three sharp retorts shattered the stillness of the prayer ground. Nathuram Godse had not failed. All three rounds tore into the chest of the slender figure advancing toward him. Manu, groping to recover the spittoon and notebook Nathuram had knocked from her hands, heard the shots. She looked up. Hands clasped in greeting, her beloved Bapu seemed to be still moving forward, chest bare, trying to take one last step toward the prayer platform ahead. She saw the red stains spreading over the gleaming white. Gandhi gasped, “He Ram” (O God!) Then a lifeless little bundle, he slowly sank to the ground beside her, his hands still frozen in a final gesture to which his spirit had commanded them, a greeting to his assassin.”
A weeping Jawaharlal Nehru spoke on AIR. “The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere.”
Far away in Dhananu, Thane, Maharashtra, a young man named Natwar Thakkar was shell shocked by the news. Bapu, his beloved icon, the seer whose words held him in a hypnotic spell, whose philosophy seemed to embody the very truths he wanted to live by, was gone. Natwar, just sixteen years old, could not eat for days. He did not know it yet, but destiny had already chosen him as one of Bapu’s faithful sentinels of peace and service to society. It would lead him to a part of a country he had never heard of. He would be called to make many sacrifices, encounter many perils, and his name would one day become synonymous with the beliefs of the saint he loved and revered.
Noted Gandhian and founder of Nagaland Gandhi Ashram, Natwar Thakkar’s life is a saga of incredible valour and steadfast determination. It is a tale as riveting as the ones penned by his favourite authors Ian Fleming and Mario Puzo (of Godfather fame). Born on October 9, 1932, Thakkar hails from a lower middle-class family. Though his grandfather was a Commission Agent, the family barely got by and his resourceful mother not only managed the family grocery shop, something unheard of in those days, but also sold pickles to augment the income. But the young Thakkar hardly felt the pangs of penury. He was stirred to the core by the turbulence of the Quit India movement and attended the Prabhat Pheris in the villages, joining in the nationalist songs. His idealism was yearning for action, and the crystallised vision of his destiny would come only later. But the here and the now filled his attention. At eleven, he lived to remove railway tracks and dislodge telegraph wires. Soon, he was extensively reading the works of Tagore, the Marathi litterateur Saney Guruji and Rabindranath Tagore. He also read the Marathi editions of the Reader’s Digest, which deeply influenced him with its inspirational stories and positive attitude.
Thakkar’s education ended abruptly after matriculation due to the family’s precarious finances, and also due to his growing cynicism of the British system of education. Then, his elder sister got him in touch with the veteran Gandhian Dilsukshbhai Diwanji. Diwanji advised him to attend a Sarvodaya Sammelan convened by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in Shivram Pally near Hyderabad. This was when the Bhoodan movement had just started. This meeting was propitious because here was where he met Kakasahab Kalelkar, the great motivator and cultural ambassador. After independence, Thakkar was a volunteer, working as a personal assistant to Kalelkar, without a salary. The Government then convened the Backward Classes Commission and Kakasahab was appointed the Chairperson. Thakkar joined in as confidential assistant to the Chairman. Here was a unique opportunity to travel through the length and breadth of the country and have a first hand experience of the land and the cultures which seemed so far removed from his own. These journeys helped him to conclude that though India had reached the pinnacle of spiritual insight, and philosophical thought, it still retained the most despicable forms of social imbalances. His mentor believed in bringing about change and development through Gandhian principles. He believed that since India had a vast frontier, it was vital to emotionally integrate the people living in remote areas with people in the mainland. This concept of the emotional bridge builder impassioned Thakkar and suddenly, his destiny seemed clear. He requested Kakasaheb to send him to the Himalayas with this objective. But a volunteer was needed for the North-East and under the patronage of LM Srinath, Vice President of the Bharatiya Adamjati Sevak Sangh, Thakkar arrived in Nagaland. So, at age 23, without the faintest notion of what he was letting himself in for, Thakkar arrived in Nagaland in early 1955. All around him were thick jungles, hills, people who spoke in a strange tongue, and had no resemblance to the people from that part of the country he came from. Worse, the separatist movement was at its peak, with Phizo of the Nagaland Nationalist Council spearheading the movement. Nagaland was in a state of siege, with a veil of secrecy and intrigue over it. Kakasahab had asked him to ensure good motorable roads, post office, school and health facilities whenever he went. With the help of an officer – Shashiram Aiyer, he pinpointed Chuchuyimlang in Mokokchung district of Nagaland as his place of work. Here, he established the Nagaland Gandhi Ashram under the auspices of the Bharatiya Adamjati Sevak Sangha. Inhabited by the Ao Nagas, Chuchuyimlang was on a hill-top, accessible only by a kutcha road, without electricity, water supply, medical faculties, and caught up in a time warp. The young Thakkar introduced himself to the local populace at a church service. He said he was a soldier of Gandhiji’s army and had come to do some constructive work among them. For several months, he taught Hindi in the primary classes, picked up the Ao language and dispensed medicines for simple ailments.
But even the most innocent actions of Thakkar were viewed with suspicion by the militants. They warned the villagers not to give him rations. His helper left him and Christian activists tried to convert him to Christianity. In this war of attrition, the young Thakkar had to be always prepared for nasty surprises. A police outpost near the village was attacked and the village council leader of Chuchuyimlang was kidnapped and murdered. He was considered an agent provocateur and all his good intentions came to naught. But he was made of sterner stuff and remained there. Then he got married to Lentina, whom he met in Sarania Ashram, where she was the first Naga to be training as a Gandhian worker. Soon, his life-partner was also helping him in his mission.By that time, Thakkar was active as an intermediary between the Indian army and the villagers, sorting out conflicts and normalising the situation. This further infuriated the militants. He heard that his house would be attacked. He moved like a vagabond from place to place, even as the villagers appealed to the militants to spare his life. A big morale booster during this difficult phase was when Pandit Nehru encouraged him to continue his work and even allotted funds for the purpose. He, thus, stayed on in Nagaland, strengthening the bonds of goodwill and brotherhood through personal contacts, talks, discussions.
Now it was time for concrete socio-economic work. A vocational training for school drop-outs and the physically handicapped began imparting training in tailoring and carpentry. He started primary schools in different villages, a small medical centre and a library. He engaged the people in bee-keeping, gur-making, setting up oil mills, biogas plants, mechanised carpentry shops, Khadi sales counters, etc. By now, the remote village he had chosen as his home had a telephone exchange, a post office, a government hospital, piped water supply, a branch of the State Bank of India and a Government High School. But the threat of the militants fell like a shadow over all he had accompanied.
In 1994, the militants laid down that the Gandhi Ashram would pay an annual tax. When the district Superintendent of Police of the area was shot soon after that, Thakkar was forced to stay away from the state and his work suffered.
And yet, his is a life that has seen the frution of his youthful inspiration. He has brought hope and progress to a part of the country considered as one of the troubled hotspots of the world. Thakkar has set up the Ashram’s camp office in Guwahati, which is a facilitator and collaborator of the Gandhian organisations of the region. He also publishes a newsletter named Ishani from April 1995, highlighting key issues of the region. Today, he sees hope that his legacy will live on in the fact that IGNOU will establish and run the Mahatma Gandhi College of Social Work at Chuchuyimlang.
Though he claims his greatest reward has been to redeem, in some way, the lives of the simple Naga villagers, recognition has come to this proactive Gandhian in many ways. He has been conferred several prestigious awards – chief amongst them are the Jamnalal Bajaj Award 1987, Indira Gandhi Award 1994, Padmashri Award and the Diwaliben Mehta award for pioneering work in tribal welfare and promoting national outlook. At the end of this year, the natives of Chuchuyimlang will confer on him an award at a special public meeting convened for the purpose. The twenty-three year old Gujarati who came to help decades ago, has indeed found a home in the hearts of the people he loves as his own.
Indrani Raimedhi