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75th
anniversary of Dandi
Sonia
Gandhi Flags of Dandi March
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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 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
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 AHMEDABAD:
Seventy-eight youths from different states, joined by hundreds
of cheering people, walked briskly on March 12 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
yatra this day in 1930 challenging the might of the British.
They cheered as the Congress President, Smt. Sonia Gandhi's
motorcade came from Gandhinagar to the Ashram to flag-off
the march, marking the 75th anniversary of the
Dandi March.
Smt.
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, Shri 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, Shri Sunil Dutt, and
the vote of thanks by the AICC general secretary, Shri Mukul
Wasnik, there were no other speeches.
Smt.
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.
Smt. Gandhi accompanied the marchers for over two kilometers
to the Income-Tax Circle, where she garlanded the statue
of the Mahatma that stands overlooking the route of the
Dandi March.
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, school-children 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 6th April.
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