The Hindu : Front Page : Dandi march stretch declared "heritage path"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 07, 2005

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Front Page

Dandi march stretch declared "heritage path"

By Manas Dasgupta

DANDI (GUJARAT), APRIL 6. On the 75th anniversary day of the breaking of the salt act by Mahatma Gandhi, the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, today announced the Centre's decision to declare the entire 384-km long stretch of the Dandi March from Ahmedabad to this tiny village in south Gujarat as "heritage path" to inculcate the "spirit of Dandi" for posterity.

Addressing a public meeting almost at the same venue from where the Mahatma had thrown a challenge to the then British Government on this day 75 years ago, Dr. Singh also announced a special Rs 10-crore package for the renovation of the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad from where the Mahatma had set off for the coastal village on March 12 with 78 of his close associates to break the salt act.

The unprecedented response to the public meeting also addressed by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, who had participated in the last leg of the march yesterday, had surpassed all estimates of even the most avid Congress supporters. The Congress had planned for a gathering of about three lakh people on the concluding day of the 26-day long yatra, but thousands of people had to return unable to find even an inch of space to stand at the sprawling venue on the seashore.

What was more noticeable was that it was not just the Congress crowd but people in thousands not associated with any party were present to listen to Dr. Singh and Ms. Gandhi. They came from all corners of the State and different parts of the country apparently to pay homage to the father of the nation.

The traffic police had a hard time controlling the unending flow of vehicular traffic on the 15-km narrow stretch from Navsari to Dandi. Right from 6 a.m., traffic started moving slowly on the road from Navsari taking more than three hours to cover the last five km to the destination.

Thousands participate

Thousands of people were found walking the distance leaving their vehicles several km away. The return after the end of the public meeting was equally torturous. A large number of people were also seen taking with them some memento of the platinum jubilee march of the historic yatra, bottles of salt collected from seacoast, the Mahatma's posters that were dotting all through the road or even Congress flags.

Though the Congress has repeatedly insisted that it had no political intentions behind the re-enactment of the Dandi March, the party certainly seems to have gained a huge mileage considering the tremendous and spirited response from the people, not only at the concluding public meeting but also all through the 384-km long route. Knowledgeable sources admitted that it was the biggest ever public rally witnessed in the State in the recent past.

Ms. Gandhi made a veiled attack on the BJP but without naming the party. She said Mahatma Gandhi had stressed on the unity of the people and had even deplored some reference to his Dandi Yatra as a rally of the Hindus, because the divide among various sections of the people had surfaced then also and the problem keep re-surfacing every now and then.

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