25/11/2012

Lathi Mahotsav organized to celebrate gifting of stick to Gandhiji

 

Patna,(BiharTimes): Villagers of Ghoraghat celebrated a three-day Lathi Mahotsav to commemorate the gifting of a lathi to Mahatma Gandhi when he visited the district after the devastating earthquake of Jan 15, 1934.

The people of Ghoraghat, 25 km from Munger district headquarters, celebrate the festival every year.

According to Dr Razi Ahmad, Secretary of Gandhi Sangrahalaya, Gandhiji learnt that the people of Ghoraghat specialised in making lathis which were supplied to the then British authorities who used them against Indians.

Gandhiji urged them to stop making lathis in the interest of the nation, which the villagers agreed to readily. They also presented a lathi to him as a gift, which he kept with him during the freedom movement.

Incidentally 103-year old Bodhan Paswan is the only surviving villagers, who was present when the lathi was gifted to Gandhiji.

The Mahotsava was inaugurated by Bihar Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh.

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