28th edition of ‘Mela Ghadri Babeya Da’ from tomorrow

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 29

The 28th edition of the ‘Mela Ghadri Babeya Da’ is going to start from October 31. The two-day event will end on November 1. This year, the mela will be dedicated to the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh and the open theatre will be named as Muhammad Singh Azad Pandal. The whole complex of the Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall will be called ‘Jallianwala Bagh Nagar’. People’s Voice, an organisation, will also show a documentary during the event. Quiz, painting and a declamation contest would also be held during the event. Besides, theatre performances will also be held.

About the hall

It is only at the Ghadri Museum of Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall where one can find rare information regarding the important part of the freedom movement played by the Ghadar Party.

Besides other elements of historical importance, it contains, 300 photographs of heroes of the Ghadar Movement, original manuscripts showing ‘Desh Bhakti ke Geet’ written by Ghadarites to provoke the patriotic feel among people at that time, a private trunk of Ghadri Baba Harjab Singh containing his writings, personal books, newspapers and important documents of that time, handwritten diaries, oral records and journals produced by the Ghadar Party of India, records of the passengers who travelled in the ship, Kamagatamaru, in 1914, along with their thumb impression.

As India attained freedom in 1947, surviving Ghadar Party members decided to erect a suitable memoir on their own, without seeking support from the government. They wanted to build it for their colleagues with the desire to pay tributes and to make the future generation aware of the sacrifices of the brave heroes.

In 1955, a prime land was purchased and on November 17, 1959, the foundation stone of the hall was laid.

“Earlier there was a photo gallery of the heroes. We gathered belongings and important information related to Ghadarites and gave it a shape of a museum in 1992. There are many valuable material that are kept in the archives section,” an official associated with the museum said. Also, PhD scholars keep visiting the museum and the archive section, as they get detailed information from these sources.