THERE is no doubt that the city of Nagpur has a great history of its own -- replete with a great story that runs through centuries, through decades, years -- crafted and scripted by people of eminence and substance in diverse fields. The city has had great political leaders, social reformers and thinkers, educational torch-bearers, scientists, scholars of indology, leading lights of armed forces. The city boasts two of the world’s greatest moments and movements -- the foundation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) by Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, and Bouddha Dhamma Deeksha to lakhs of people under the leadership of Dr. Bhimrao ‘Babasaheb’ Ambedkar.

 

The city made a great contribution to the freedom struggle with great leaders of different ideological leanings standing together for the common cause. One of the most critical contributions in social thinking came from the city when Dharmaveer Dr. Balkrishna Shivram Munje who launched the concept of military education to civilians by founding the famed Bhonsla Military school -- in tune with the core thought on the subject promoted first by Swatantryaveer Savarkar. The city also boasts of having been the base for two of Indian history’s great dynasties -- the Bhonslas and the Gonds. The Gond dynasty ruled the place for well over a hundred years and the Bhonsla dynasty followed with a brilliant story to tell of their own prowess and achievement. Despite this, barring a few exceptions, the city of Nagpur does not have much love for its own history -- ancient or contemporary -- which anybody can see and sense while moving around town. It is commonly known that the people of our beloved Nagpur have only a scant regard for their history and the great souls that adorned the city’s landscape through the past three centuries. The evidence of this apathy is available on city roads at almost every corner.

 

We have statues of great personalities -- such as Raja Bakhta Buland Shah (at the Vidhan Bhavan Square) but there is nothing to tell what he did and why he should be remembered. We have the stride statue of Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi, but there is nothing near it to tell her story briefly to the newer generations of Nagpurians. Likewise, we have statues and carvings of personages such as Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya or Shrimati Sumatibai Suklikar or Annabhau Sathe and many, many others at street corners and intersections. But at most of those spots, there is nothing by way of a board etc why the city should remember those people. How does a young lad of 12 know who Deendayal Upadhyaya was, for example, if he does not get to read about the personality on display at the Laxmi Nagar square?

 

Those who planned those installations did not think a bit about telling the story of the personalities enshrined at those spots. The loosefooter happens to know the stories of most of those personages, thanks to his years and his conscious effort to understand the city’s history. For others, however, everybody may not be willing to take pains to know the history in good details. But if those details are made available -- even in brief narrations -- near the statues or memorials of those personages who made Nagpur a city of substance, then a great service to the society will be rendered. The loosefooter is willing to join a campaign if one is to be taken up in this regard. n