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Young World
Historic small town
D.B.N. MURTHY
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No plaque or board announces the role this place played in the Salt March.
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When the sea is calm it is a wonderful scene with little ripples washing the sandy shore, a few water birds picking at worms, a lone visitor ambling along.Coastal village
But the scene in April 1930 could have been anything but peaceful. Lathis rained on the peaceful salt satyagrahis while Mahatma Gandhi was protected by his followers. Those who defied the police and tried to go near the sea to collect a handful of salt were dragged away and bundled into waiting police vans to be sent to jail. The Salt March started from Sabarmati Ashram on a 320 km long journey on March 12, 1930 and ended in Dandi on April 5.
Dandi is a small village on the southern coast of Gujarat, near the town of Navsari. The sea front is about one km from the village, where steps lead to the vast beach. No salt pans exist at present on the beach.
There is no plaque or board describing the historical Dandi Salt Satyagraha. In the village is installed a statue of Mahatma Gandhi and a plaque.
A prayer hall is located in a garden and was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the year 1951.
Sitting on the beach and one ponders on that historical day when Gandhiji led a group of satyagrahis braving lathis as violence was unleased by the brutal police force under the command of British officers.
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