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7th
anniversary of Dandi
AVOID
SELFISH POLITICS
| THE
ROUTE THEY TOOK |
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In
2005: 
•
Tushar Gandhi, (grandson of the Mahatma) Chief Trustee
of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation (MGF) is organizing
the "International Walk for Peace, Justice and
Freedom" from March 12 to April 7.
•
It will start from Sabarmati Ashram and reach Dandi
taking the route that Gandhiji and his followers covered
in 1930.
In
1930:
• On March 12 Gandhiji set out with 80 of his
followers and disciples.
•
They were to walk 388 km. from the Sabarmati Ashram
to Dandi on the sea.
•
Along the way, he addressed large crowds.
•
With each passing day more and more people joined
the march.
•
It is said that roads were watered, and fresh flowers
and green leaves strewn on the path; and as the satyagrahis
walked, they did so to the tune of one of Gandhiji's
favourite bhajans, "Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram,"
sung by the great Hindustani vocalist, Pandit Paluskar.
•
On April 5, Gandhiji arrived at Dandi:
•
Short prayers were offered, Gandhiji addressed the
crowd, and at 8.30 a.m. he picked up a small lump
of natural salt.
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Gandhi had now broken the law.
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GANDHINAGAR: A day before the historic Dandi March was
re-enacted, the Congress President, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, asked
the partymen to engage themselves in constructive activities
and not to waste time in mere selfish politics.
Addressing
a training camp of the Congress Seva Dal volunteers who
would take part in the march, she said many joined politics
for selfish ends and sent a wrong message to the youth.
She told the volunteers that they were joining the yatra
for a specific purpose and should keep politics out of it.
The
Gandhian principles of peace and non-violence had no parallel
in the world and the efforts he had taken for women's emancipation,
village employment and for fighting untouchability were
just as relevant today as they were during the freedom movement,
Smt. Gandhi said.
In
a brief address, Smt. Gandhi did not make any political
observations and said it was only Gandhiji who showed to
the world that a revolution was possible without using a
single weapon.
Smt.
Gandhi will flag off the re-enactment of the march tomorrow
morning to commemorate the 75th anniversary of
the yatra. She is expected to walk a kilometer with the
volunteers. She has accepted the offer to take over as the
chairperson of the All India Congress Seva Dal Advisory
Committee.
Organised
by the All India Congress Committee, the march is planned
to follow the same schedule as the original yatra in 1930.
It will start from the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad
at 6.30 a.m, follow the same route, halt at the same spots
where Gandhiji halted for the nights and reach Dandi on
the sea coast in Bulsar district in south Gujarat on April
6, the day Gandhiji violated the Salt Act of the British
government.
As
in the original march, 80 youth, two from each state and
26 from Gujarat, will march through the entire route. About
200 volunteers of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation will also
join the march.
An
11-member delegation from each state will join the march
for a day. According to the Foundation president and Gandhiji's
great grandson, Shri Tushar Gandhi, the former South African
president, Shri Nelson Mandela, has ruled himself out for
the march due to ill-health. The grandson of Khan Abdul
Ghafoor Khan, Asfandir Wali Khan, is expected to join the
march on the final day. The Union Youth and Cultural Affairs
Minister, Shri Sunil Dutt, said he would urge the Centre
to restore the entire route from the Gandhi Ashram to Dandi
and name it as "heritage path."
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