Mahatma Gandhi's Great Grandson Moves High Court Against Proposed Sabarmati Ashram Redevelopment Project

The petition states that the proposed redevelopment is diametrically opposed to personal wishes and bequeathal of Mahatma Gandhi and would reduce the shrine and memorial of India's freedom movement, and turn the same into a commercial tourist attraction.

The Ashram was bequeathed to Harijan Sevak Sangh in 1933 and since then it has been the custodian of the property of the entire Sabarmati Ashram precinct.

According to the plea,

"The Sabarmati Ashram (also known as Harijan Ashram) was home to Gandhiji from 1917 until 1930 and served as one of the main centres of the Indian freedom movement, it was from here that Gandhiji left for Champaran to lead he Satyagraha there, it was from here that he led the Kheda and Viramgam Satyagraha and then the first Non Cooperation Movement. He was arrested from Sabarmati Ashram and prosecuted for sedition, and it was from Sabarmati Ashram that he left for the historic Dandi March on 12.03.1930. Originally called the Satyagraha Ashram, reflecting the movement toward passive resistance and civil disobedience movement launched by Gandhiji, the Ashram became a laboratory and training center of Satyagraha Swadeshi and Khadi and home of the ideology that eventually set India free."

In 2019, the Government of Gujarat publicized their intent to redesign and redevelop the said Ashram to make it into a "world-class museum" and "tourist destination".

The plea highlights that as per news reports, the said redevelopment plan will alter the topography of the century-old ashram at an unnecessary expenditure of Rs. 1,200-crore to the exchequer. The project has purportedly identified over 40 "congruent" buildings which will be preserved while the rest of them, roughly 200, will be demolished.

The plea states,

"The plan promises facilities like a cafeteria, parking lot, parks, and the revival of the Chandrabhaga river stream etc. Petitioner fears that the said project will change the physical structure of the ashram and corrupt its pristine simplicity and frugality that embodies the ideology of Gandhiji and make the same diametrically opposite to the Gandhian ethos of simplicity and frugality, that the Ashram embodies."

Further, it is submitted that all monuments associated with the father of the nation should be kept strictly "apolitical and completely free of Government control or interference".

Rather, considering the objects of the Gandhi National Memorial Trust and nature of Satyagraha Ashram as Gandhiji's residence for around 12 years, it is submitted that the monuments such as the Ashram would come under its custodian's preview.

The plea also questions the constitution of a governing council and an executive council for the re-development work. It is claimed,

"The entire project from conception to execution is to be handled exclusively and excluding the associated trusts and the Gandhian community at large, this constitutes an insidious attempt to take over the memorial by the Government."

Further, the plea apprehends that with the nature of redevelopment and over-sized involvement of the government authorities in the conception and execution of the said project, the Ashram may lose the Gandhian ethos.

The petitioner therefore seeks a direction that any redevelopment work that is sought to be done at the Gandhi Ashram should be spearheaded by the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust, which presently runs the Ashram and under the aegis of National Gandhi Smarak Nidhi.

It is however submitted that the Central and State Government may fund the project.

In the interregnum, the petitioner seeks an interim stay on the redevelopment project.