Thursday, February 24 2005 12:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Hectic preparations are on for the re-enactment of the historic Dandi march on its 75th anniversary from Sabarmati Ashram on March 12, traversing the same path taken by Mahatma Gandhi, in an apparent message to the Sangh Parivar in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stronghold of Gujarat.

The 26-day march, being seen as a Congress answer to the saffron party's plank of cultural nationalism, will seek to galvanise the party ranks all over the country and to convey that Gandhi's ideology remained relevant, Congress general secretary and coordinator for the march Ashok Gehlot said today (Feb 24, 2005).

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who is also the chief patron of the march, will inaugurate the event by administering a pledge of communal harmony and development to the volunteers.

Simultaneously, Congress workers will take a similar pledge at the district headquarters' throughout the country coinciding with the inauguration.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is a patron, all Congress Chief Ministers, Congress Working Committee (CWC) members, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) presidents, MPs and MLAs will also take part in the march, Gehlot said.

Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Sunil Dutt, who has himself taken out many a padayatra to promote the cause of peace and brotherhood, is actively associated with the venture.

Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Tushar Gandhi, who is the Chief Trustee of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, had conceived the idea of the re-enactment of the march.

Gehlot said that Tushar Gandhi and the Gujarat PCC President B K Gadhvi were busy in giving final touches to the exercise that will go through Nadiad, Anand, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Navsari and Valsad districts in Gujarat.

Gehlot said that the march was significant in Gujarat where the Sangh Parivar had allegedly "communalised" the situation that was reflected in the post-Godhra violence threatening the country's secular fabric.

Cultural troupes from various parts of the country would perform during the night halts of the march and street theatre groups would accompany it to spread the message of de-addiction and communal harmony.