The Hindu : National : Avoid selfish politics, Sonia tells Congressmen

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Saturday, Mar 12, 2005

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National

Avoid selfish politics, Sonia tells Congressmen

By Our Special Correspondent

GANDHINAGAR, MARCH 11. A day before the historic Dandi March is to re-enacted, the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, today asked her 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 will 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, she said.

In a brief address, Ms. 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.

Ms. 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 kilometre 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.

The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and Ms. Gandhi are scheduled to address the volunteers on the last day.

80 youth to take part

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, Tushar Gandhi, the former South African president, 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.

A Pakistani delegation is also expected to take part besides about a dozen foreigners.

`Heritage path'

The Union Youth and Cultural Affairs Minister, 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."

Mr. Dutt and the State unit party president, Bhairondan Gadhavi, said though they had not invited people from any other party "they can come and join if they feel we are doing a good work."

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