Tuesday, 24 December 2013

Monumental miss for Dandi satyagrahis

SURAT: Half of the 80 satyagrahis who walked with Gandhiji during the Dandi march won't be as lucky as their fellow marchers who will be immortalized through life-size sculptures to be installed in the village.

As part of the Dandi Memorial project, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai was charged with preparing the sculptures of satyagrahis who undertook the 391-km march from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi with Bapu.


However, even after two years of extensive research, little or nothing is known about at least 40 satyagrahis handpicked by Bapu. In the absence of vital details, it looks like only 40 sculptures — including Bapu's — will be installed in Dandi.


"It is unfortunate but true. We have the name of all 80 satyagrahis but no other details about them," said Dhirubhai Patel, a former member of Dandi trust, who was associated with the project. "Bapu, who was 61, was the eldest and the youngest marcher was 16-year-old student," he added.


In 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the National Salt Satyagraha Memorial at Dandi on the occasion of 75th anniversary of the movement. The main memorial was to include a statue of Gandhiji inside a pyramid of light, followed by life-size sculptures of the marchers.


AS many as 40 artists from various countries also participated in a special workshop 'Dandi Marchers Sculptures Workshop' held at IIT-Mumbai last month.


KT Trivedi, project in-charge of industrial design sector at IIT, said, "There is incomplete information about many satyagrahis and many have been forgotten. We have the names and their native places, nothing more than that." Trivedi said, "The picture of the first day of the satyagraha on March 12, 1930, shows only 58 heads."






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