Patna: Prashant Kishor has begun his political journey in Bihar in the same manner as Mahatma Gandhi had done in the context of colonial rule in India. This comes at the time when the country’s ruling leadership is on a spree to replace Gandhian values and idealism with those of V.D. Savarkar, Nathuram Godse and the like.It is an open secret now that the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has several MPs, MLAs and cadres who praise Godse and Savarkar; selectively targeting minorities and painting Gandhi as a symbol of “Muslim appeasement”.Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who projects his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as an alternative to the BJP, too, has shown an ideological proximity to the Sangh Parivar, by supporting the BJP on critical issues like reading down of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and his silence on the bulldozing of minorities by Hindutva zealots.Kishor, on the other hand, put up a life-sized statue of the ‘Father of the Nation’ at his first press conference in Patna on Thursday, May 5, where he announced his political plans and declared that he would embark on a 3,000 km padyatra in Bihar.Kishor’s journey will begin from Bhitiharwa (West Champaran) – the ashram that Gandhi had set up in 1917 to fight against the ‘Tinkathia’ system that the British had imposed on farmers.Also read: Prashant Kishor Is Raring To Go, But Does Bihar’s Politics Have Space For Him?Some journalists are drawing parallels between Kishor and Kejriwal, but the differences in their style of function are too obvious to ignore. When asked by Karan Thapar in an interview for The Wire about his ideology, Kishor categorically described Gandhi as his “role model” and has even adorned his Twitter’s timeline with Gandhi’s famous quote: “The best politics is right action.”Prashant Kishor’s Twitter banner. Photo: Twitter/PrashantKishorKishor and Batakh MianIn the context of saving Gandhian values, – the soul of what India and its constitution stand for – Kishor can be compared to Batakh Mian, an ordinary cook who had saved Gandhi from certain death when he had just begun his struggle in Champaran.By saving Gandhi’s life, Batakh Mian had saved the man who shaped the destiny of the nation. Now, election strategist-turned-political activist Kishor is on his way to resurrect Gandhism, even as it is under virulent attack from the ruling dispensation in India.In light of the announcement of ‘Jan Suraaj’, – the name of Kishor’s campaign which has resonances with Gandhi’s ‘Gram Swaraj’ – it is worth remembering Syed Ubaidur Rahman’s book, Biographical Encyclopaedia of Indian Muslim Freedom Fighters, in which he retells the story of Batakh Mian, among many other Muslim freedom fighters.The story goes as follows:A British indigo plant manager, Erwin, had plotted to poison Gandhi at dinner at the former’s estate in Motihari – the headquarters of the then undivided Champaran district in 1917. (Another scholar and columnist, Ajaz Ashraf, has since corrected the spelling of ‘Erwin’ as it figures in Rahman’s book and other accounts to ‘W.S Irwin’, manager of the Motihari Ltd indigo plant, after consulting the The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volumes 15 and 16.)As the story goes, Irwin was peeved at Gandhi for moving around Champaran’s villages with Rajendra Prasad to inquire about the Tinkathia system. Irwin invited Gandhi and Prasad to a dinner and instructed his cook, Batakh Mian, to lace a glass of milk with poison before giving it to Gandhi. Gandhi and Prasad were staying at the plantation overnight.Syed Ubaidur Rahman Biographical Encyclopedia of Indian Muslim Freedom Fighters Global Media Publications, 2021.However, Batakh Mian revealed the diabolical plot to Gandhi and Prasad. Poor Batakh Mian’s ‘disobedience’ earned him his master’s wrath and he was put behind bars, where he was tortured for years.There are other versions of the story too. In one, Batakh Mian entered Gandhi’s room with the glass of milk mixed with poison but just as Gandhi was about to drink it, Batakh Mian, overwhelmed by the pangs of conscience, snatched the glass from Gandhi and poured the milk on the floor. A cat drank it and died.Girish Mishra, a retired professor of history at K.M. College, Delhi University, and a resident of Muzaffarpur witnessed a Prasad’s retelling of the incident first-hand, when he was ten years old. Recounting his account in Ashraf’s research paper, Mishra said:“In 1950, when India’s first President Rajendra Prasad alighted from a special train at the Motihari railway station, an old man in tattered clothes was struggling with the security men and forcing his way to Prasad. Prasad promptly recognised Batakh Mian and escorted him to the dais. The President, after 33 years of the incident and two years after Gandhi’s assassination, introduced Batakh Mian to the crowd, narrating the story of how Batakh had saved the life of the Mahatma and didn’t fall prey to inducement and greed. Had it not been for Batakh Mian, the history of the freedom struggle would have been different. Prasad sowed Batakh Mian in the collective consciousness of the Champaran people and inspired many researchers to incorporate Batakh Mian’s role in the history of the Champaran satyagrah and in Gandhi’s life.”The President decreed to the erstwhile Bihar government to allot 50 acres of land to Batakh Mian in lieu of his contributions to the nation. Later, some dispute ensued with the forest department objecting to the transfer of the land. Batakh Mian lived a modest life and died at his village of Siswan Garhi in 1957.This writer tracked down Kamaruddin Ansari – one of the 18 grandsons of Batakh Mian, through Bettiah-based reporter Sandip Bhaskar. The family was granted six acres of land in the neighbouring Ekwa Parsauni village a year after Batakh Mian’s death.Batakh Mian’s progeny live modestly both at at Siswan Garhi, their ancestral home, and also at Ekwan Parsauni. They are agriculturists and go out as migrant laborers to Punjab and Gujarat to eke out their living.“We are proud that we are the progeny of Batakh Mian, our dada (great grandfather) who had saved Mahatma Gandhi’s life,” Ansari said.Ansari and Bhaskar said that Batakh Mian’s family members and other villagers gather at his mazar (memorial) at Siswan Garhi regularly, lighting lamps and sharing his stories. There are many anecdotes and stories related to Batakh Mian which the villagers still share and which the likes of Modi and Kejriwal might be oblivious of.Hopefully Kishor will look for the likes of Ansari when he hits the streets as a part of his 3,000 km padyatra on October 2, beginning from Bhitiharwa in the same region.On Gandhi’s 152nd birth anniversary last year, US President Joe Biden, speaking to Prime Minister Modi, reminded India and the world of the “critical importance of Gandhian values” in today’s world, against the backdrop of ‘New India’ redefining its relationship with the Father of the Nation.Perhaps Kishor has taken Biden’s prescription more seriously than Modi, with whom he had made his debut in India’s political space in 2012. In 2014, Kishor had left Modi to work with non-BJP parties thereafter.Nalin Verma is a senior journalist, author and professor of journalism and mass communication at Invertis University, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh