Postcard written by Mahatma Gandhi 72 years back handed over to college

A postcard written by Mahatma Gandhi from Peshawar 72 years back to the principal of a college in Kottayam requesting students to abjure violence at the peak of the civil disobedience movement was handed over to the authorities of the institution today.

The postcard was handed over to the management by John Lee, the son of Reverend Philip Lee who was the then principal of CMS College.

The letter written on October 16, 1938, was in reply to the correspondence of Rev Lee, informing Gandhi of the problems faced in conducting classes due to students' agitation which was at its peak during the civil disobedience movement led by him.

Lee requested Gandhi to "intervene and prevail upon the students to abjure violence and issue a statement."

Gandhi responded and issued a statement asking the students to observe non-violence in thought, word and deed.

Lee's son John Lee is a professor at University of Sydney in Australia. His father passed away in 1965.