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Sunday, Mar 13, 2005

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National

Spread Gandhian principles: Sonia

By Manas Dasgupta

75 YEARS AGO: Mahatma Gandhi set out for Dandi on March 12, 1930, to break the Salt Law imposed by the British. The Mahatma and his band of 78 followers marched for 25 days from Sabarmati Ashram to reach the coast. At dawn on April 6, he bent down and picked up a piece of naturally dried salt, an act that shook the British Empire. — From The Hindu Photo Library

AHMEDABAD, MARCH 12. Seventy-eight youths from different States, joined by hundreds of cheering people, today walked briskly in a re-enactment of the historic Dandi March that Mahatma Gandhi undertook changing the course of India's freedom movement.

Much before dawn, thousands of people had gathered at the Sabarmati Ashram here from where the Mahatma had embarked upon the long yatra this day in 1930 challenging the might of the British. They cheered as the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi's motorcade came from Gandhinagar to the Ashram to flag off the march marking the 75th anniversary of the Dandi March.

Ms. Gandhi visited Hriday Kunj, the house in the Ashram where Gandhiji lived before launching the Dandi March, to pay homage to the Mahatma. After the singing of "Vande Mataram'' and "Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram," the sarod maestro, Amjad Ali Khan, and his two sons played the tune of Gandhiji's most favourite, "Vaishnava Janato." Barring a brief welcome address by the Union Youth and Cultural Affairs Minister, Sunil Dutt, and the vote of thanks by the AICC general secretary, Mukul Wasnik, there were no other speeches.

Ms. Gandhi administered the oaths to the volunteers to take upon the task of spreading the message of Gandhian principles and values. At 6.45 a.m. she handed over Congress flags to the representatives of various States. Then started the march on the 380-km-long journey to Dandi on the seacoast in south Gujarat.

Besides the select and trained Congress Seva Dal youths, two each from each State and 26 picked from Gujarat, about 250 volunteers of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation also joined the March. This is in addition to 60 foreigners from different countries who have been greatly influenced by the Gandhian philosophy. Ms. Gandhi accompanied the marchers for over two km to the Income-Tax Circle, where she garlanded the statue of the Mahatma that stands overlooking the route of the Dandi March.

HISTORIC OCCASION: The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, participates in a reenactment of the Dandi March (on its 75th anniversary) in Ahmedabad on Saturday. The present march will be stretched over 24 days, covering 385 km, along the route taken by Mahatma Gandhi to protest against the Salt Tax imposed by the then British Government. — AP

The marchers, however, could not take the historic "Dandi bridge," a narrow wooden bridge on the Sabarmati river. This had been closed for traffic for many years now. The volunteers took the new concrete bridge to cross the river. Hundreds of people, schoolchildren and others waited on both sides of the road and greeted the marchers showering rose petals on them. On the first night, the marchers will halt at Aslali, some 16 km from the Ashram on the outskirts of the city, from where it will resume the journey tomorrow morning to reach Dandi on April 6.

On the second day of the yatra, a Congress delegation from Andhra Pradesh led by the State unit president, Keshav Rao, and at least four Ministers, will join the march tomorrow. Despite the claims of the pradesh Congress leaders, some old Gandhians were conspicuous by their absence at the flagging-off ceremony but the students of Gujarat Vidyapith, founded by the Mahatma, welcomed the marchers as the yatra went past its gates.

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