Centenary of Mahatma's historic Visit to Kerala and two addresses at Kochi

 

March 8, 2025, marks the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's historic visit to Kochi. It was Mahatma’s second visit to Kerala.  On March 8 March 1925,   Mahatma alighted from the train at Old Railway station near Ernakulam High court .He  was warmly welcomed at Ernakulam and Gandhi in his speech in reply to Corporation address, thanked very sincerely for the address and the sentiments expressed in it.   His visit in this Presidency was mainly for the sake of his mission in Vykom which aimed to open the road to the temple for all sections of Hindus in the Travancore region of Kerala. During the speech Gandhi expressed his pleasure at finding all religious faiths and races living in peace and harmony in the State. Gandhi as the President of Indian National Congress emphasized the importance of embracing change, challenging social injustices, and promoting Hindu-Muslim unity, removal of untouchability, and adoption of khaddar. Gandhi's speech at Fort Kochi is popularly known as Spirit of Adventure . In this speech Mahatma highlighted the need for adventure in India's national life, stressing that it requires an adventurous spirit to identify and address the black spots in Hinduism, such as untouchability and unapproachability. He also promoted self-sufficiency and economic empowerment through khaddar, emphasizing the value of simplicity and character over material possessions.To commemorate this milestone, various organizations, including the People's Council for Cochin Development, Gandhi Peace Foundation, and Gandhian Collective, have organized a series of programmes. These events aim to promote communal amity, address social concerns, and honour Gandhi's legacy. The centenary celebration serves as an opportunity to reaffirm Gandhi's ideals and work towards creating a more inclusive and equitable society.  On this occasion  we  share the readers the two historic speeches of  M. K. Gandhi .

  

SPEECH IN REPLY TO CORPORATION ADDRESS
ERNAKULAM
March 8, 1925

I thank you very sincerely for the address and the sentiments expressed in it. It is a matter of great sorrow to me that, at the present moment, I have not beside me my friend Maulana Shaukat Ali or Maulana Mahomed Ali. As you know we had become almost inseparable in all our travels in India. One of the brothers, however, is today immersed in his journalism and the other Big Brother has practically buried himself in and about Bombay. As I have arrived in this Presidency purely for the sake of visiting Vykom and entering the zone, where my work chiefly lies, during the present visit, it pleases me to receive this address from you. This is an errand of peace and I want all the assistance that I can receive from public opinion throughout thelength and breadth of this land. Above all, I want the prayers of those who believe in prayers, whether they are Hindus, Mussalmans, Christians, Jews or Parsis. Whatever faith they may belong to, if they believe in prayers I want their prayers for the success of my mission.

There are other things also in which I am interested and in which you should also be interested. It makes no difference whatsoever whether you belong to British India proper or to one of the Protected States. I refer to Hindu-Muslim unity which is a form of unity amongst all the races professing the various religions of India. I know that in this State you have no such question, as I understand, as between Hindus and Muslims or between Hindus and other races. It is a matter of great pleasure to me to find that in this State all the races are living in peace, amity and brotherhood. Let that state of things last for ever. But I am afraid I am unable to pay you the same tribute so far as the spinning-wheel is concerned. I took the opportunity, in replying to the address of the Madras Corporation, of mentioning the fact that no municipality's work in India can be considered to be complete until that municipality had identified itself with the lowest of its citizens. One often learns that the order is really reversed, that is to say, the municipalities give to those who have much and take away much from those who have very little.

They care more for the rich and the powerful and little or less for the poor and down-trodden. ("Hear, hear.") I hope that it is not true of this town and that you are observing the proper order of things. I therefore suggest the spinning-wheel only by way of addition. It is to me a symbol of inseparable connection between the rich and the poor. It is the one certain definite solution for the poverty of the masses of India. I ask you therefore to introduce the spinning-wheel in your schools and also its product, khaddar. I ask you to give it a sacred place in your homes as it occupied years and years ago. I have not hesitated to call it one of the yajnas of this age and as the great ones do, so do the lower order of beings follow. You will not therefore be able successfully to carry the message of the spinning-wheel to the humble homes of India, unless you adopt it yourselves. May you have the courage and the strength and the goodwill to follow the advice that I have humbly tendered to you!

The Hindu, 9-3-1925

SPEECH AT PUBLIC MEETING, COCHIN
March 8, 1925

FRIENDS,

It gives me much pleasure to be able to meet you.When I decided to come to Vykom, I little thought that it would be possible and necessary for me to stay here before proceeding there. I know that yours is a historic city. It is full of all kinds of vivid recollections, not all of them of a pleasant type. Living on the seaside you are aware of what adventure can do. The sea is an epitome of adventures. At the present moment, however, I am not concerned with the adventures that the sea offers. What we need is the spirit of adventure in our national life and if we find that we have made but little progress towards our goal, it is because the spirit of adventure is absent from us. It requires for instance an adventurous spirit to find out in the Hindu religion its black spots. Those who are not fired with that spirit are satisfied with things as they are. They do not stop to enquire whether they are good or bad; but ever since I have been in India, after my sojourn in South Africa for a period of nearly 20 years, I have been telling the Hindus that we have in our religion a black spot which must be removed. It is untouchability and here I am sorry to add also unapproachability. I have not come in order to argue with the orthodox people. I have come with a message of peace. I want to plead wisdom and tell them that this untouchability and unapproachability cannot be part of Hinduism.

I have come to tell them that the satyagrahis who are fighting against enormous odds at Vykom are not out to destroy religion, but to reform it. I have come to tell them of all the implications of this struggle. I have come to tell them also that it is wrong for us to be satisfied with things as they are, if we find that they are bad. It, therefore, gives me pleasure that I shall be carrying with me your blessings and your sympathy, for in the address presented to me on your behalf by the municipality I am assured of your sympathy and support. I want you also to carry the same spirit a little further and I want you to find with me that one of the most potent causes of the ever-deepening poverty of the masses is that they have nothing to do for nearly a third part of the year throughout India. I would like you to discover with me that if we give them the spinning-wheel which had a place in every home in India only a hundred years ago, they will find enough to occupy themselves during their leisure hours. But the introduction of the spinning-wheel in the millions of our homes will be a perfectly useless thing if we do not discard the use of foreign cloth or mill-made cloth. In going about, therefore, from place to place I am pleading with those men and women whom I see that it is their bounden duty to discard the use of foreign cloth and mill-made cloth and replace it with hand-spun and hand-woven khaddar. For you in Malabar plenty of clothing is a burden. I have no doubt that I am an object of envy with most of you. In this weather

of ours the least we have in the shape of clothing the better it is from every point of view. I wish you will not run away with the idea that dignity or civilization requires multiplication of clothing. (Laughter and "hear, hear!") "Handsome is not who is handsome clothed, but handsome is who handsome does." The truest test of civilization, culture and dignity is character and not clothing. I feel overwhelmed with sorrow whenever I find the people in India telling me that they have outgrown khaddar and that it is impossible for them to return to the savage days when our ancestors were satisfied with khaddar clothing. I would like you to answer with me the critics who think in that way, that the best way of ridding India of the curse of poverty and pauperism is for one and all of us to be dressed in khaddar.

Those of you who will go in for fineries and fineness, it is possible for you to get as fine a hand-spun yarn as you wish to. I hope therefore that you will tax yourselves, tax your minds and dot every home in Cochin with the spinning-wheel and see to it that everyone in Cochin uses khaddar and nothing else. I need say nothing about the Hindu-Muslim question. I know that you miss the presence of one of the Ali Brothers. It has been usual for one of them to be touring with me throughout India. But it was not possible to do so this time. But I wish to congratulate you on the freedom from this taxing problem in your midst. It is a matter of great pleasure to me to find that all the communities belonging to the different religions are living in a spirit of goodwill and brotherhood in this State. I wish that we could in every part of India copy your worthy examples.

May God give you the strength and the wisdom to introduce khaddar and the spinning-wheel in your homes and to rid Hinduism of the curse of untouchability! May all the races inhabiting this fair land remain for ever united as they are today!

The Hindu, 9-3-1925