Gandhi's 1930 march re-enacted
The following is an excerpt from a BBC report re Mahatma Gandhi, revered for leading India to independence, and the thousands who turned out for the re-enactment of the famous "salt march" that took place 75 years ago.
The famous 1930 "salt march" by India's independence hero Mahatma Gandhi to defy British colonial rule is being re-enacted for its 75th anniversary. The march of several hundred is led by Gandhi's great-grandson Tushar Gandhi.
Mahatma Gandhi undertook the 24-day walk from Ahmedabad to the coastal village of Dandi to manufacture salt. It sparked India's civil disobedience movement as thousands joined him on the beach to pick up salt, the production of which was under government control.
The Italian-born president of India's governing Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi, launched the march in a ceremony at Sabarmati Ashram, once Mahatma Gandhi's commune in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
The BBC's Sanjeev Srivastava said the ceremony was solemn, almost subdued, and was interspersed with the independence leader's favourite prayers.
Mrs Gandhi urged those carrying out the 380km (240 miles) to take forward Mahatma Gandhi's message of "peace and non-violence".
Few similarities
Mahatma Gandhi's aim at the end of the Dandi walk was to manufacture salt and defy the monopoly on salt production by the British colonial rulers. The unique, non-violent protest forced the British to take note of the growing civil disobedience movement in the country.
Mahatma's great-grandson Tushar and several hundred fellow marches will follow the same route and take a similar length of time to walk it. But there the similarities with the 1930 march end, says our correspondent.
The values that Mahatma Gandhi lived and died for - such as non-violence, religious tolerance and honesty in public life - are as alien to today's India as the days of the Raj, says our correspondent.
Gandhi was known for his simple ways, but the sequel march was something of an extravaganza.
Saturday's march was attended by nearly half of the Indian cabinet, many of whom walked for a few kilometres before returning to their hotels, our correspondent observed.
Tushar Gandhi acknowledged there was little to compare his march to his great-grandfather's, although he said they carried the same message of religious harmony, brotherhood and peace.
"The comparison is that all the Dandi walkers who have come from all over the world are volunteers. They came... because they identified with this battle and I think that is the spirit," he told the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3576420.stm
- - -
Mahatma Gandhi's fading dream
Further reading:
3 September, 2004: BBC Restoring Gandhi's African legacy - "Gandhi did not want to impose his leadership on them. He felt that Africans should carry out their own struggle. In fact, many African National Congress leaders have given credit for Mahatma for being their source of inspiration."
31 March, 2004: BBC Mahatma Gandhi's fading dream - excerpts:
Porbandar on India's west coast is famous for being the birthplace of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.
Sadly, many of Gandhi's dreams have disappeared.
There is another facet of Gandhi's vision which has disappeared from the land of his birth.
He believed in economic self-reliance, with the village as the centre of economic production.
That ideal appears to have disappeared in the smoke that belches out of the cement and soda-ash factories that dot Porbandar.
- - -
"Gandhi's economic vision was only appropriate for his time," says the BJP's Babubhai Bokadia.
"If we follow it now we will be left behind. No-one can be self-sufficient anymore. The world is linked economically whether we like it or not."
Not surprisingly, these thoughts are echoed by his rival, Vithalbhai Radadiya of the Congress Party.
"Why should our villages be left behind? Villagers are consumers too.
"Mahatma Gandhi's vision has to be modernised and taken forward."
- - -
"His ideas were very lofty and completely impractical," says Narottam Liladhar, who owns a tiny shop in the nearby market square.
"The world does not recognise anything other than strength and power. Non-violence may have delivered for us in the past but it is completely useless today."
- - -
Mr Ranija, now in his sixties, was a young boy when Gandhi was alive and led India to freedom from colonial rule.
"He certainly did a lot for us back then," the jeweller says, as he polishes a gold ring.
"But his ideals were only appropriate at the time. Non-violence got rid of the British but it will have very little effect in today's world.
"With all the terrorism one sees and with the tension that flares up often on our borders we cannot sit back and do nothing. We have to protect ourselves."
The famous 1930 "salt march" by India's independence hero Mahatma Gandhi to defy British colonial rule is being re-enacted for its 75th anniversary. The march of several hundred is led by Gandhi's great-grandson Tushar Gandhi.
Mahatma Gandhi undertook the 24-day walk from Ahmedabad to the coastal village of Dandi to manufacture salt. It sparked India's civil disobedience movement as thousands joined him on the beach to pick up salt, the production of which was under government control.
The Italian-born president of India's governing Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi, launched the march in a ceremony at Sabarmati Ashram, once Mahatma Gandhi's commune in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
The BBC's Sanjeev Srivastava said the ceremony was solemn, almost subdued, and was interspersed with the independence leader's favourite prayers.
Mrs Gandhi urged those carrying out the 380km (240 miles) to take forward Mahatma Gandhi's message of "peace and non-violence".
Few similarities
Mahatma Gandhi's aim at the end of the Dandi walk was to manufacture salt and defy the monopoly on salt production by the British colonial rulers. The unique, non-violent protest forced the British to take note of the growing civil disobedience movement in the country.
Mahatma's great-grandson Tushar and several hundred fellow marches will follow the same route and take a similar length of time to walk it. But there the similarities with the 1930 march end, says our correspondent.
The values that Mahatma Gandhi lived and died for - such as non-violence, religious tolerance and honesty in public life - are as alien to today's India as the days of the Raj, says our correspondent.
Gandhi was known for his simple ways, but the sequel march was something of an extravaganza.
Saturday's march was attended by nearly half of the Indian cabinet, many of whom walked for a few kilometres before returning to their hotels, our correspondent observed.
Tushar Gandhi acknowledged there was little to compare his march to his great-grandfather's, although he said they carried the same message of religious harmony, brotherhood and peace.
"The comparison is that all the Dandi walkers who have come from all over the world are volunteers. They came... because they identified with this battle and I think that is the spirit," he told the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3576420.stm
- - -
Mahatma Gandhi's fading dream
Further reading:
3 September, 2004: BBC Restoring Gandhi's African legacy - "Gandhi did not want to impose his leadership on them. He felt that Africans should carry out their own struggle. In fact, many African National Congress leaders have given credit for Mahatma for being their source of inspiration."
31 March, 2004: BBC Mahatma Gandhi's fading dream - excerpts:
Porbandar on India's west coast is famous for being the birthplace of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.
Sadly, many of Gandhi's dreams have disappeared.
There is another facet of Gandhi's vision which has disappeared from the land of his birth.
He believed in economic self-reliance, with the village as the centre of economic production.
That ideal appears to have disappeared in the smoke that belches out of the cement and soda-ash factories that dot Porbandar.
- - -
"Gandhi's economic vision was only appropriate for his time," says the BJP's Babubhai Bokadia.
"If we follow it now we will be left behind. No-one can be self-sufficient anymore. The world is linked economically whether we like it or not."
Not surprisingly, these thoughts are echoed by his rival, Vithalbhai Radadiya of the Congress Party.
"Why should our villages be left behind? Villagers are consumers too.
"Mahatma Gandhi's vision has to be modernised and taken forward."
- - -
"His ideas were very lofty and completely impractical," says Narottam Liladhar, who owns a tiny shop in the nearby market square.
"The world does not recognise anything other than strength and power. Non-violence may have delivered for us in the past but it is completely useless today."
- - -
Mr Ranija, now in his sixties, was a young boy when Gandhi was alive and led India to freedom from colonial rule.
"He certainly did a lot for us back then," the jeweller says, as he polishes a gold ring.
"But his ideals were only appropriate at the time. Non-violence got rid of the British but it will have very little effect in today's world.
"With all the terrorism one sees and with the tension that flares up often on our borders we cannot sit back and do nothing. We have to protect ourselves."
posted by Ingrid Jones at 3/19/2005
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