When India got its independence in 1947, on August 15, M K Gandhi – one of the biggest leaders of the freedom struggle – was not to be found in New Delhi. He was instead staying in a dilapidated house called Hyderi Manzil at Beliaghata in Kolkata. He was busy attending all-faith meetings in the wake of the Calcutta killings – a ghastly riot that broke out in Kolkata ahead of the partition of the country. He had arrived in the city on August 13.
To commemorate the day of his arrival, the All India Peace and Solidarity Council (AIPSO) on Saturday took out a procession in the Beliaghata area of Kolkata. Two brief meetings were also organised on the occasion, which were attended by intellectuals such as the former Supreme Court Judge Ashok Ganguly, former Jadavpur University VC Ashoknath Basu, former PAC chairman and IAS officer Sukhbilas Barma, actors Chandan Sen, Joyraj Bhattacharjee, and poet Mandakranta Sen among others.
AIPSO General Secretary Professor Anjan Bera hailed the exemplary role played by Gandhi ji in handling the violence that took place around the Partition. He said, “The then prime minister of undivided Bengal, Shaheed Surawardi, was also residing with him in the building, which was later renamed Gandhi Bhawan. Gandhi ji chose
— source newsclick.in | Sandip Chakraborty | 14 Aug 2022