Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi had spent seven days along with his family, associates and several leaders at Beraboi village near Delang in Puri district.
During his visit to Odisha back on March 25, 1938, Gandhi arrived at 7 am in Beraboi village by Puri Express to attend a week-long conference. He was accompanied by wife Kasturba, son Manilal, daughter-in-law Sushila and grandson Arun Gandhi.
Over 400 coconut palm leaf huts were built near a pond and agriculture land where Gandhi along with his family and associates including Sardar Ballav Bhai Patel, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Acharya JB Krupalini, Moulana Abul Kalam Azad, Dr Prafulla Chandra Ghosh, Gobind Ballav Panth, Jamunalal Bajaj, Annasaheb Sahasrabudhhe, Mahadev Desai, Pyarelal, Hrudaynath Kunjru, Kishorelal Mashruwala, Kakasaheb Kalelkar and several freedom fighters and leaders from across the country stayed for a week at the remote village of the Puri district.
Over 4,000 representatives had attended the Gandhi Seva Sangh meeting held from March 25 to 31, 1938 at Beraboi village where they discussed various subjects including the country’s economic development, upliftment of poor people, political freedom, abolishment of untouchability, communalism, women’s awareness, promotion of khadi, development of agro and cottage industries, swadeshi (country-made) and self dependence.
The meeting was inaugurated by Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel. During the occasion, Gandhi inaugurated an agro and village enterprise exhibition.
An incident had upset Gandhi during the event when his wife Kasturbaand his personal assistant’s spouse Durga Ben along with Narayan Desai visited lord Jagannath temple where Dalits were not allowed.
Expressing displeasure over their visit to the temple, Gandhi resorted to fasting, his preferred way of registering peaceful protest. Several leaders of the State had worked as volunteers at the week-long event at the village.
The then Prime Minister of Odisha Biswanath Das, two members of his Cabinet Nityanand Kanungo and Bodhram Dubey and other MlAs including Nabakrushna Choudhury were among the volunteers during the conference.
Others including Gopabandhu Choudhury, Rama Devi, Krupasindhu Hota, Acharya Harihar, Radhanath Rath, Annapurna Moharana, Binod Kanungo, Gunanidhi Mohanty, Manmohan Choudhury, Satyabadi Nanda, Surendra Patnaik and Biswanath Sahoo had played a key role in organising the programme at the village.
Materials and items required for the event starting from decoration to representatives’ accommodation and food were arranged from a place located at a distance of 10 km from Beraboi village.
There was ticketing system for the exhibition. The entry fee for the expo was only 2 paisa. Over 75,000 visitors thronged the exhibition. More than 50,000 people had visited the inaugural ceremony of the meeting on March 25, 1938.
Mahatma Gandhi in his address had held alcohol and laziness responsible for the poverty of Odisha.