Posting Portraits for Peace

SAHMAT brought out postcards that showcase different faces of Mahatma Gandhi.

Different faces of the Mahatma — spinning the charkha, his portrait on the stamp, bespectacled profile and the sketchy silhouette urging for peace — will brace thousands of postcards intended to travel across the world. Initiated by Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT), the activity will mark the 67th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on January 30. The postcards have been designed by 100 prominent artists, including KG Subramanyan, Pushpamala N, Atul Dodiya, Nilima Sheikh, A Ramachandran, Jagdish Chander and Vivan Sundaram. “Each postcard has been printed with a message of peace and secularism,” says Rajan from SAHMAT, adding how Gandhi, too, communicated through the inexpensive medium.

The commemoration, he notes, has been organised in view of the “declaration by Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha that Nathuram Godse, who killed Gandhi, was a patriot and a nationalist, and their demand to have busts of Godse installed in public places across India”.
The Delhi-based organisation has roped in groups from different parts of the country, including Nagpur, Chennai and Mumbai, for the task. Students from Delhi schools, such as Springdales, Blue Bells and Delhi Public School, will also participate.

On January 30, two events have been organised in the Capital, between 4 and 5.30 pm, at Jawaharlal Nehru University and the India Art Fair. While the fair will have artists wear black badges marking the date and time of his martyrdom (30.01.1948, 5.17 pm), at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi the programme will include a street play, songs, short speeches and release of the book, Beyond Doubt: Dossier on the Gandhi Assassination compiled by Teesta Setalvad. It will also feature mass mailing of the Gandhi postcards addressed to friends, and observation of a minute’s silence at 5.17 pm. Vandana Kalra