• Dr. Anil Dutta Mishra

Indian freedom struggle is the by-product of consciousness of people from diverse backgrounds irrespective of caste, class, colour, sex, religion and region. This consciousness was created by the active, selfless leaders of Indian National Congress under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, and galaxy of other prominent social reformers. After returning from South Africa in 1915, Gandhi spent the first year in India touring all over the country and studying the regions with ‘his ears open but his mouth shut’. Gandhi was a creative man, creating history for himself and for the rest of the world to follow. His concerns were contemporary but timeless. His thoughts are everlasting, time-tested, and have been for common man. In 1917, he launched the first Satyagraha in Champaran, Bihar, where he received impressive success. This was followed by Ahmedabad Textile Mill Workers’ strike, that went on for 21 days in which Gandhi initiated his maiden fast for three days and his intervention had the desired effects. His next Satyagraha was Kheda Satyagraha in which many leaders of national eminence took part and finally the government suspended the revenue assessment for the poor farmers. This example demonstrates Gandhi’s popularity, the importance of people’s participation in the freedom moment. ‘Non-cooperation’ enjoyed widespread appeal and success, increasing the feeling of excitement and participation from all strata of Indian society.

On March 11, 1930, Gandhiji along with 78 of his chosen dedicated Satyagrahis, who came from all parts of country and represented all sections of the society started from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, a distance of 240 miles on foot. About seventy-five thousand people had gathered at the Sabarmati Ashram to wish Gandhi and his disciples and, all along the route, thousands and thousands of people gathered to greet them. Along the route, Gandhi kept on addressing the people on issues of immediate and long-term concerns such as the importance of ahimsa, Satyagraha and other such issues. Every day at the sunrise and sunset, Gandhiji conducted his daily prayer meetings under the open skies, addressed meetings in villages through which he passed, did his daily quota of spinning on charkha, wrote article for his journals and letters to his correspondents. The Dandi March took altogether twenty-four days to complete and throughout, the press was full of stories about the march. On April 6, 1930, after a night of fasting and prayer, the leader and his followers bathed in the sea at Dandi. Thereafter, Gandhiji bent down to pick up a handful of salt. With this act, of defiance of the Salt Law, began the Civil Disobedience movement. It was a signal for which masses were anxiously waiting for quite some time. Wherever the sea was within reach, peasants and fishermen broke the law by making natural salt. Many people were arrested and in several cases police resorted to lathi charge as freely as they could. Meetings were organized in innumerable towns to inaugurate the Civil Disobedience movement. The British Government started using the coercive methods to suppress the movement as many leaders were being arrested along with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the President of Indian National Congress. No part of India remained untouched by the Dandi March, and virtually every aspect of campaign elicited some public response and soon the entire nation was with Gandhi. This march dug the foundation of the mightiest Government and laid the foundation of the road to swaraj and the beginning of the end of British Empire not only from India but from the whole world. Gandhi said on April 5, 1930 that ‘I want world sympathy in this battle of right against might.’ Through Dandi March, he brought awareness of political, social, and human freedom to millions of people and also gave them a practical method for achieving redressal against the wrongs, by practising non-violent assertion of rights.

Indian National Congress played a pivotal role in the freedom struggle. Indian National Congress Party has a history, ideology, commitment and dedication for the cause of India and of Indians. Congress Party gave voice to voiceless, power to powerless and uplifted the Indian masses from absolute poverty. Whatever has been achieved today in India by Indians is because of the far-sightedness of the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru led the foundation of scientific research, industrialization, democratic culture, institutions buildings and moreover scientific temper and ushered an era of vibrant, modern and self-reliant India. To keep the legacy of Congress alive, the young, energetic and messiah of masses, Shri Rahul Gandhi started ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, the 3500 km march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, covering as many as 12 states on September 7, 2022, to save India’s soul. More than fifty thousand people from all walks of life and every corner of India had gathered at Kanyakumari on that day to wish Shri Rahul Gandhi and his fellow marchers. All along the route, thousands and thousands of people gathered to greet them. Enroute, Shri Rahul Gandhi kept on addressing the people on issues of immediate and long-term concerns such as the importance of harmony, secularism, unemployment, corruption and other such issues. People’s response is enormous. The old, the young and even the innocent child greet Rahul Gandhi and make their presence felt in this great epic march for the cause of India and Indians. Shri Rahul Gandhi is inspiring masses and masses are inspiring him. It is a march to uphold democracy through mass awakening and common people stood out for cause to save Mother India. As the march progresses, the responses are growing and amplifying. This ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ will shape the ‘Future of India and Indians’. Shri Rahul Gandhi’s peoples’ movement is a movement for understanding the Idea of India, its people and its problems. It is a movement to connect the people of India who have common culture, values, traditions, sharing and sacrifices. Falsehood and hatred have been rejected by the common masses by openly coming out in support of Shri Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. By God’s grace, we have a fighter leader like in Shri Rahul Gandhi who relentlessly raises the issues of unemployment, poverty, price rise, hatred, national integration, communal harmony, farmers’ issues, health and security of every individual. India is known for peace, love and universal brotherhood and Shri Rahul Gandhi stands for it. One cannot forget the sacrifices of Indira Ji and Rajeev Ji for Mother India.

The Author is a renowned Gandhian scholar & author of “Reading Gandhi”.