June 9 is the death anniversary of Abbas Tyabji, one of India’s leading freedom fighters, and a well-known name all over India in the 1920s and 1930s. He was often referred to as “Chhota Gandhi” though he was 15 years older than Mahatma Gandhi. He spent the last years of his life in this hill station. Tyabji, the Grand Old Man of Gujarat, who kept bad health in his later years, was advised to spend more time in the hills and took up a cottage, “Southwood”, in Mussoorie where he passed away on June 9, 1936. His grave in landour was located after a lot of effort by the members of the Uttarakhand Freedom Fighters’ Association more than a decade ago.
Near the ITBP establishment, hidden from the main streets and lanes of this hill station is the Southwood Estate, spread over five Bighas, which is considered by historians to be as important, if not more, than the “Anand Bhavan” in Allahabad. Witness to the history of the freedom movement, Southwood has never been given the care and attention it deserves. It needs to be preserved as a national monument. For more than two decades now, renowned freedom fighter and former MP Paripoornanand Painully has been carrying on a crusade to draw the attention of the government towards Southwood and Tyabji’s grave. He wants them to be declared as heritage sites. A Tyabji Trust was formed and it holds meetings in Mussoorie on the death anniversary of Tyabji. Tyabji was pulled into the national movement by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and military violence in Punjab in 1919. Till then he had been part of the elite who had benefited from the Raj and grown up in an atmosphere suffused with loyalty to the Crown. He had been educated in England and was one of the first Indians to become a barrister. In 1919, he was appointed chairman of an independent fact-finding committee and cross-examined hundreds of eyewitnesses and victims of the atrocities committed by Reginald Dyer, reacting with “nausea and revulsion.”
Tyabji had already met Gandhi when the latter returned from South Africa in 1915. An affectionate relationship sprung up between the two leaders. An unending stream of letters was exchanged between them. Visits to Southwood, not only by the Mahatma but also Moti lal Nehru, Annie Besant, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and Abul Kalam Azad followed and during these visits, the estate became the centre of India’s fight for independence.
Mahatma Gandhi appointed Tyabji, at age seventy-six, to replace him as leader of the Salt Satyagraha in May 1930 after Gandhi’s arrest. Tyabji was arrested soon afterward and imprisoned by the British Indian Government. Gandhi and others respectfully called Tyabji the “Grand Old Man of Gujarat”. In the thirties, Tyabji had become a household name. One popular slogan then went like this: “Khara rupaiya chandi ka/Raj Tayab-Gandhi ka”.
Tyabji’s house, furnished with priceless antiques, was donated by his daughter to the nation in 1947. But since then, Southwood, has been with the Central Public Works Departments (CPWD). Tyabji was the uncle of India’s gifted bird-man Dr Salim Ali. Tyabji’s wife Ameena was also prominent in the freedom movement. Till ten years ago, the estate was known as Southwood Estate. Today, that name has been wiped out, even from the memory of people around the house. There is no other mention anywhere of the history of the place. Southwood is a national heritage and should be preserved for posterity.