It was at the Tejpal Sanskrit Boarding School located on the road that the Indian National Congress was formed. It was at the Tejpal Sanskrit Boarding School located on the road that the Indian National Congress was formed. THE HUMBLE Tejpal Road in south Mumbai is often overshadowed by the August Kranti ground nearby and the Laburnum Road that is home to the famous Mani Bhavan, the mansion where Mahatma Gandhi resided. However, few are aware that it was on this leafy, barely 400-metre-long road that the Indian National Congress was formed by Allan Octavian Hume in 1885. The road that is home to the popular Tejpal auditorium gets its name from Sheth Gokuldas Tejpal, a businessman and philanthropist who set up various educational and medical institutes across the country, including the GT hospital in south Mumbai. The Sheth Gokuldas Tejpal High School in Kutch, on its website, says that Gokuldas was born in Kutch and that his father Sheth Tejpal came to the city and started a cotton business. “By the time Sheth Goculdas was only 17 years old, he lost his father and uncle. At this young age, heavy responsibilities of business devolved on his shoulders and he conducted them with utmost success,” the website note reads. “Sheth Goculdas Tejpal, had an intuition that his prosperity should not be confined to his personal welfare. He thought it prudent to utilise considerable portion of it in establishing educational, religious and charitable institutions… He was amongst the first gentlemen to donate street lights to the city of Bombay,” the note further reads. City historian Deepak Rao said: “The Tejpal Road is named after the well known philanthropist Gokuldas Tejpal, who had funded several educational institutes and hospitals in the 19th century”. In his book, Bombay Place Names and Street Names, Samuel T Sheppard lists Tejpal Road as Bombay Improvement Trust IV, Road 5 A adjoining the Tejpal Estate. He says: “The Tejpal Sanskrit Boarding school and the Laxmi Narayan Temple, built by the Tejpal family, are along this road.” It was at the Tejpal Sanskrit Boarding School located on the road that the Indian National Congress was formed. Even today, the facade of Mathuradas Vissanji Memorial Hall, that is now used for weddings and pujas, there is a white plaque that reads: “On the 28th December 1985, a band of gallant patriots laid the foundation of the Indian National Congress, which has built up, stone by stone as the pledge and symbol of the invincible purpose to secure to India their motherland their legitimate birth-right of Swaraj — placed to commemorate the occasion of its Golden Jubilee, 28th December 1985.” The landmark meet convened here by A O Hume, a member of the then Imperial Civil Service, and one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, is considered to have marked the birth of the Indian National Congress and it set the tone for the subsequent struggle for freedom from the British rule. In the same estate, today there is the Sheth Gokuldas Tejpal hostel and the Sheth Gokuldas Tejpal auditorium, which is well known for Gujarati plays. Kanwal Raj, a local resident, said: “This is a quiet road and thankfully does not attract much traffic. At the most you will see foreign nationals who come to see Mani Bhavan. The most active part of this area is the August Kranti Marg that is abutting the road.” For all the latest Mumbai News, download Indian Express App

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