AHMEDABAD: Hundreds of people arrived on Wednesday to cheering crowds in the western Indian beachhead village of Dandi at the end of a 26-day re-enactment of Mahatma Gandhi’s famous “salt march” of 1930 which shook the British empire.

The marchers, mainly Indians who were joined by some foreigners, began the 388-kilometre walk from Ahmedabad city, in Gujarat state, on March 12.

Joined in the last few kilometres of their trek by thousands of others, including ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, the marchers were received at Dandi by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Addressing the vast crowd, Manmohan Singh declared that the “salt march” would become a heritage route and that a huge statute of Gandhi would be erected at Dandi.

“I feel like a pilgrim who has joined the re-enactment of a historic march taken up by Mahatma Gandhi to start his civil disobedience movement,” the premier said.

The re-enactment of the “salt march” was undertaken to mark the 75th anniversary of the event when Gandhi, then aged 61, began walking from Ahmedabad dressed only in a loincloth, to challenge the might of the British empire.

Along with thousands of sympathizers he marched for 26 days, sleeping under the open sky and eating frugal meals. He reached Dandi, a natural salt-producing beach, on April 6.

Watched by thousands, he picked up a lump of salt and broke it in defiance of a ban on Indians producing salt. The act sparked mass civil disobedience across India, leading to thousands of arrests including his own.

But it is credited as having marked the turning point in the independence movement. The British administration was eventually forced to open formal talks with Indian freedom fighters.

Congress, which is in opposition in Gujarat, decided this year to stage a re-enactment in tandem with the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, run by Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi.

Congress chiefs said the event was aimed at keeping alive Gandhi’s legacy but the party’s opponents dismissed the march as a political gimmick.

Sonia Gandhi showered rose petals when the march wound past a Gandhi monument erected on the spot where he broke the salt laws.

“As the time passes by, the world is remembering Gandhi more and more,” Sonia Gandhi told the crowd.

“His path is in the interest of all humanity. There is no greater weapon than truth and non-violence in the fight against injustice. Gandhi is our truth, our light, our path.” —AFP