MUMBAI: Activists and officials in South Africa and India are calling for Mahatma Gandhi's Tolstoy Farm, which had been a commune run by the Indian nonviolence leader now lies in ruins. But activists and even government officials, during the annual Gandhi Walk in near Johannesburg, said organizers of the walk should put an effort into making it link to restoring the now desolate area that was the Tolstoy Farm. Over 2,000 people participated in the walk. Mahatma Gandhi had set up the Tolstoy Farm as an experiment in community living during his tenure in Johannesburg at the turn of the last century in what was arguably South Africa's first ashram. The event was started as a fundraiser for building a new Gandhi Hall in Lenasia – a predominantly Indian suburb – after the original Gandhi Hall in the Johannesburg city center had to be sold in the 1970′s because it fell into a designated white area under the draconian Group Areas Act of the then white minority government. Tolstoy Farm, less than ten kilometers from the Gandhi Hall, has fallen into disuse after the last residents left the area in the 1970′s. Despite efforts to revive some activity there, especially by Gandhian enthusiast Mohan Hira, who formed the Mahatma Gandhi Remembrance Organization, constant vandalism has left a bare shell there. Now the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation wants to find ways of turning Tolstoy Farm into a legacy project, with the Indian High Commission pledging support as well. Referring to an earlier meeting between community organizations and Indian High Commissioner Virendra Gupta on the issue of Tolstoy Farm, acting Indian Consel-General in Johannesburg Nandan Bhaisora called for a follow-up: “We would like to take some further action on this and hope that something works out. “Coal India has already assured us that it will be funding the project, so we should take it forward.” However, the idea to rejuvenate the farm situated on the outskirt of the city also met with some skepticism as it is now part of a brick-making company.
