The Mobile Museum - Exhibition on Wheels Titled “Memories of the Mahatma”

Gandhi's Africa connect to roll out on wheels

This Gandhi Jayanti, PM Narendra Modi will re kindle Mahatma Gand hi's Africa connection to reach out to African leaders ahead of the third India-Africa Forum Summit (October 27-29), billed as the largest gathering of foreign leaders on Indian soil since the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in 1983.

A mobile exhibition, named `Memories of the Mahatma', has been organized in the form of a specially designed trailer that will leave Porbandar on Friday and traverse Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana before reaching the summit venue, Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, on October 29.

Modi looks at the Africa summit as one of his most significant diplomatic engagements since he took over as PM. After he asked MEA to organize events to stress Gandhi's special bond with Africa, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj spoke to the CMs of Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat to facilitate the movement of the trailer and also organize events along the route.

MEA has now also writ ten to the chief secre taries of all three states seeking their cooperation in facilitating the mobile exhibition.

Designed in the form of a museum, the light duty truck will showcase the Mahatma's entire life, including all important events which transformed India's political landscape, in the form of photographs and audio-visual content. It will also feature sound and light shows on Gandhi's life and his work in Africa.

The truck will pass through all iconic places associat ed with Gandhi's life before reaching Delhi. These include Dandi, Rajkot and Sabarmati in Gujarat. It will also pass through Jodhpur, Ajmer, Jaipur and Pilani in Rajasthan.Modi sees events around the Mahatma's Africa connect as a tribute to “the vision of the Father of the Nation''.

The exhibition will seek to highlight how Africa was the birthplace of Gandhi's satyagraha. Another reason for Modi enthusiastically drawing on the Mahatma is the fact that the Summit is taking place exactly 100 years after his return from Africa as a mass leader against racial discrimination and oppression. The truck will pas through schools, seeking to inform children of Gandhi' links with Africa. It will also pick up memorabilia along the route, like salt from Dandi, which will be gifted to African leaders by Modi himself.

The truck will be flagged off by Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel in Porbandar after the inaugural event at the Kirti temple, located next to the birthplace of the Mahatma. It will then head to Rajkot where it will stop at Rajkot High School (earlier Alfred High School) from where Gandhi graduated.The mobile museum will also visit Dandi, Sabarmati and Gandhinagar before heading to Rajasthan.

Source | Times of India | 1 October 2015