Gandhi's
Dandi march as seen by his disciple
London, April 7 (PTI): A new
version of Mahatma Gandhi's Dandi march has come to light
thanks to his disciple Sumangal Prakash, an eye witness to
the historic event of March 12, 1930.
According to History
Talking.com, Britain's leading Asian web-radio, which had
an interview with Prakash in June 1985, the facts of the
case are quite different.
Prakash said, "Our
historians have committed a mistake. They have written
that Gandhi reached Dandi, and there was salt already
lying on the shore.
"This is not how it
happened. In fact, after full moon, patches of seawater
were formed at many places on the shore and from one of
these patches, muddy sea water was collected in a tumbler.
Then it was boiled on a temporary fireplace made of two
bricks. We could extract only about a half a tola or about
5gms of salt. Then in the evening, we had a public meeting
in Dandi where that salt was auctioned by Gandhi's
secretary Mahadev Bhai.
"That little salt was
bought for Rs 500 by Ranachhod Bhai, who later became the
president of Delhi congress. That's how it happened."
Vijay Rana, Editor, History
Talking.com, in a statement last night claimed that
Prakash, whom he interviewed in June 1985 at his residence
in in Delhi, was one of those 78 people Gandhi chose to
accompany him in the historic salt march.
During the interview, Prakash
gave a graphic account of the morning of 12th March 1930.
"We could't sleep that night because Sabarmati Ashram
was surrounded by thousands of people from all over India.
We came out of ashram sharp at five minutes to six. Five
minutes later Gandhiji arrived and we began the historic
journey."
International
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200504070902.htm
