The Congress in Gujarat began the Gandhi Sandesh Yatra from Porbandar and Dandi to Sabarmati Ashram on Friday to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Porbandar is the birthplace of the Father of the Nation while coastal village Dandi in Navsari district is associated with the Salt March led by Gandhi in 1930 against the British regime.
“These marches, under a week-long ‘Gandhi Sandesh Yatra’ have been launched on Friday and will culminate at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad on October 2,” said State Congress president Amit Chavda, who led the march from Dandi.
Another march from Porbandar was led by leader of the opposition Paresh Dhanani and other senior party leaders.
“Dandi to Sabarmati is 368 km while Porbandar to Sabarmati is 412 km. Participants of both marches will first converge at Kocharab Ashram in Ahmedabad, started by Mahatmma Gandhi, and from there they will hold a 8-km-long foot march to Sabarmati Ashram,” said Gujarat Congress-in-charge Rajeev Satav. “Our idea is to spread the message of Mahatma Gandhi while celebrating his 150th birth anniversary at a time when the ruling dispensation is making all efforts to impose the ideology of Bapu’s assassin Nathuram Godse,” he added.
Mr. Chavda charged the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to destroy the ideology of non violence and communal harmony that Mahatma Gandhi had propagated during the freedom movement.
During the marches, Congress members will organise ‘satsangs’ (discourse) and bhajans to spread the message of communal harmony and social unity. The party’s Gujarat unit will also organise seminars, debates and essay competitions in schools and colleges on topics related to Mahatma Gandhi and his life.
“During the British Raj, the country faced the problem of social inequality, communal polarisation, poverty, atrocities on women and weaker sections. There were attempts to target a certain section, and keep the poor and farmers out of the mainstream. The rulers of today are acting in a manner that will even put the British Raj to shame,” Mr. Chavda said.
