We know that Mahatma Gandhi and Bihar has always had a close connection and Gandhi Jee started his satyagraha movement in Bihar .TOI reports that Mahatma Gandhi had once advised ministers of Bihar to strictly adhere to simplicity and austerity, get rid of caste and religious bias and wear khadi, avoid spacious bungalows and misusing car and remove security ring around them.

This advice was given in Patna about 60 years ago, on April 19, 1947 — a few months before India won freedom.

At a time when the undivided India was on verge of celebrating freedom but communal frenzy had reached new heights particularly in Noakhali and later in Patna, Gaya and other places of Bihar, Gandhi camped here for about 45 days. "Bihar is my state. The people of Bihar have made me what I am today," he had said.

It was during that long stay at the house of Dr Syed Mahmood, Gandhi could feel the pulse of Bihar in his veins. In Gandhi's diary, penned by his shadow and grand-daughter Manu Behn Gandhi and authenticated by him, he lashed at partymen and people in his public discourses for the Partition riots.

Gandhi had warned Congressmen and the people to mend their ways and stop violence or else, "... either I will do something or die. I would not like to die in Sevagram or Delhi. I will prefer to die in Bihar, or in Noakhali."