Patna: The starving grandchildren of Batak
Mian, who saved the life of Mahatma Gandhi in 1917 by alerting
him not to drink a glass of poisoned milk in Bihar, today got
a helping hand from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Knowing that Mian's grandchildren were living in poverty
in West Champaran, the chief minister directed the Divisional
Commissioner, Tirhut, S M Raju to provide help to the family,
an official release said.
Mian, a cook in the house of a British officer overseeing
indigo farming, was asked by the Briton to serve a glass of
milk laced with poison to Gandhiji in a dinner party at his
house when the Mahatma was in Champaran leading an agitation against indigo farming.
"Our grandfather had informed Gandhiji about the plot and
ensured that he did not drink the milk. After knowing Mian's
role in saving the life of Gandhiji, the British officer
brutally tortured our grandfather," a grand child of Mian, who
died in 1957, said, according to the release.
The divisional commissioner and the district magistrate
had also been asked to submit a proposal at the earliest so
that Mian's family could receive additional government help,
it said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 28, 2010, 23:30