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Patna:
Patna’s Bankipore Maidan, silent witness to a few of the landmark occasions within the nation’s historical past, was renamed within the honour of Mahatma Gandhi after his assassination and earlier than the primary anniversary of Independence Day in 1948.
According to archival paperwork, the sprawling oval-shaped floor, now famously referred to as ”Gandhi Maidan” which has been the venue of I-Day celebrations within the state since independence, was earlier known as ”Bankipore Maidan” or ”Patna Lawn”.
According to the uncommon personal assortment of the Jalan household of the legendary Quila House, the title Gandhi Maidan was used within the official invitation playing cards printed for the celebrations of the primary anniversary of India’s independence on August 15, 1948.
Aditya Jalan, 43, the present scion of the household, mentioned he by accident discovered a uncommon I-Day invitation card addressed to his nice grandfather Dewan Bahadur Radha Krishna Jalan, whereas going by way of his household archives.
“Gandhiji was assassinated on January 30, 1948 and the first anniversary of I-Day was on August 15 the same year. While going through our huge family archives, I came across two different invitation cards, one from 1945 which mentions the venue as ”Bankipore Maidan”, while the other from 1948, which says ”Gandhi Maidan,” Mr Jalan told PTI.
This indicates that the iconic ground was known as Bankipore Maidan during British rule and was rechristened before the first I-Day celebrations that year, he said.
The invitation issued by the Patna administration has embossed letters and reads, “The District Magistrate, Patna requests the pleasure of Dewan Bahadur Radha Krishna Jalan’s presence at Gandhi Maidan, Bankipore on Sunday the 15th Aug at 9 am when H.E. the Governor of Bihar will carry out the flag-hoisting ceremony and take the salute from a mixed navy, police and home-guard parade on the event of the primary anniversary of Independence Day”.
According to a senior official of the Bihar State Archives, the request to rename the ground as Gandhi Maidan was made by a school teacher from Muzaffarpur in north Bihar, soon after his assassination.
“As per the information in our archives, a instructor from Muzaffarpur district had despatched a letter to the federal government authorities, requesting to rename the Bankipore Maidan in honour of Gandhi who had been martyred in January 1948. He had advised to make use of Gandhi garden, Gandhi Park, or Mahatma Gandhi Maidan and numerous different mixtures, however insisted it carried Bapu”s title,” the official told PTI.
Radha Krishna Jalan, a well-known and well-travelled businessman, was also a passionate collector and his private collection formed the Jalan Museum, one of the largest house museums in Asia endowed with some of the rarest artefacts, including a four poster bed of Napoleon III and a dinner set of King George III.
He was also an archivist and collected invitation cards, pamphlets and other objects very meticulously, which today are “like uncommon gems”, his great grandson said.
“The uncommon archives, which I’m arranging now, shouldn’t be solely serving to us inform the story of our household but additionally of Patna and of Bihar. We are planning to share such uncommon snippets in a narrative format on a brand new Facebook web page we’re launching on August 15 known as ”Planet Patna Patter”, mentioned Mr Jalan, a businessman.
In an invitation dated February 18, 1945, issued within the title of his grandfather Hiralal Jalan, the bottom has been talked about as ”Bankipore Maidan”. The invite was from the District Soldiers, Sailors & Airmen”s Board, Patna.
During the colonial interval, the Bankipore Maidan hosted many key occasions together with the royal durbar of the then Prince of Wales Edward VIII in 1921 throughout his Patna go to, many main exhibitions, and has been a witness to Gandhi’s prayer conferences in addition to speeches delivered by Subhas Chandra Bose and different freedom fighters.
In December 1938, the Bankiore Maidan hosted Muhammad Ali Jinnah, whose fiery speech in opposition to Congress on the 26th Annual Session of the All-India Muslim League had lifted the fortunes of his Muslim League occasion.
Post-independence, it has been the nerve centre of political rallies and the voice of socialist chief Jayaprakash Narayan or ”JP” boomed there throughout the ”Total Revolution” or ”Sampoorna Kranti” motion in 1974.
It can also be the popular venue for internet hosting many cultural occasions and state programmes together with Bihar Diwas and hoisting of the tricolour on Independence Day and Republic Day.
The Maidan was developed by then Patna Commissioner Metcalfe within the early many years of 19th century. It was beforehand additionally used as a race course throughout the British time.
Jalan mentioned the residents of previous Patna nonetheless check with Patna as Bankipore, town”s civil station established by the British, including, the over 150-year-old Bankipore Club close to the Maidan continues to be known as so.
Many old-timers check with the Maidan as ”Lawn” and an previous mosque close to the verdant floor nonetheless makes use of the title ”Lawn ki Masjid”.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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