10,000 Mumbaikars march on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on 2nd October
History is made as for the very first time, people marched on the streets to commemorate the 153rd Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, as well as the Jayanti of former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri. Cries of ‘Mahatma Gandhi Amar Rahein’, ‘Lal Bahadur Shastri Amar Rahein’, ‘Nafrat Chhodo Bharat Jodo’, ‘Samvidhan Bachao Desh Bachao’, rent the air.
The march commenced from the historic August Kranti Maidan, where we paid our tributes to the Martyrs of the Freedom Struggle and from there we marched to the Gandhi Statue opposite the Mantralaya. On the way we paid homage at the Hutatma Chowk, and we also paid homage at the statues of Shri Bal Thackeray, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, Shri Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Shri Rajiv Gandhi and ultimately at the Statue of Mahatma Gandhi. This march was indeed unique as it included the flags of all the political parties, with the national flag right at the front of the march with Congress Sewa Dal volunteers marching with the Tricolour wearing their Gandhi topis.
This epic march was the result of a joint effort of the secular political parties and civil society organizations. The parties included the Indian National Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, CPI, CPI-ML, Janata Dal Secular & the Republican Party of India.
The political party leaders included Shri Digvijay Singh (Congress Central leader), Bhai Jagtap, Charan Singh Sapra, Yuvraj Mohite representing the Congress Party, the NCP was represented by Narendra Rane & Rakhiji, the CPI by Com. Prakash Reddy and Milind Ranade, the Samajwadi Party by Abu Asim Azmi, the Shiv Sena by Arvind Sawant & Dr. Manisha Kayande, the Republican Party of India by Dr. Rajendra Gawai, the JDS by Ravi Bhilane and the CPI-ML by Com. Mittal.
The leading figures representing civil society included veteran freedom fighter, Dr. G. G. Parikh, Shri Tushar Gandhi, Feroze Mithiborwala, Kishor Jagtap, Irfan Engineer, Guddi S. L., Prof. Zeenat Shaukat Ali, Vishal Hiwale, Sarfaraz Arzu, Varsha Vidya Vilas, Amrita Bhatacharjee, Bharti Sharma, Farouk Mapkar, Yashodhan Paranjpe, Ali Bhojani, Suraj Bhoir amongst others.
The People’s organizations that marched under the banner of NAFRAT CHHODO SAMVIDHAN BACHAO ABHIYAAN participated & included the Bharat Bachao Andolan, Friends of Democracy,
Aarey Bachao Andolan, Ghar Banao Ghar Bachao, CSSS, Yusuf Meherally Centre, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, Bombay Catholic Sabha, Vidyarthi Bharti, amongst others.
