Protest Held Against Sabarmati Ashram Renovation

Followers of Mahatma Gandhi under the banner of Telangana Sarvodaya Mandali on Sunday staged an innovative demonstration in front of the Ambedkar Statue in Tank Bund protesting the reconstruction of the Ahmedabad Gandhi ashram, popularly known as the Sabarmati Ashram.

The Gandhians took part in a peaceful and silent protest with black ribbons tied to their mouths, and placards asking to stop commercializing the Gandhian heritage.

Telangana Sarvodaya Mandali President R Shankar Nayak said that the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram had played a key role in the struggle for Indian independence, and that the key events in the movement, the Salt Satyagraha and the Dandi Yatra, had started from there.

The ashram, variously known as Gandhi Ashram, Harijan Ashram and Satyagraha Ashram, was established to promote peace, and great philosophies, values and teachings, he said.

However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had resorted to the egregious act of reconstructing the ashram in name of building a "world-class tourist destination", forgetting that the ashram was a national monument, to benefit his selfish corporate business friends.

He claimed that the government had taken over the ashram's institutions and assets, and was planning to reconstruct them to build hotels, guest houses, amusement parks, amphitheaters, food courts and shops, which would be home to unscrupulous activities.

He said that the government's takeover of Gandhian institutions was collectively opposed by many people, including prominent Gandhians, historians and archaeologists in India and around the world.

He demanded that the efforts of the government be stopped, and that the ashram be kept intact and not be considered a tourist destination.

If the union government continued with its efforts, peaceful protests, demonstrations, marches and dharnas would be held across the country, Nayak warned

Representatives of the Telangana Sarvodaya Mandali K Chandu Nayak, N Roop Singh, Rakesh Singh, V P Raju, B Bhaskar, Chatru Nayak, Mahmood, Shankar, Amina, Vijay Kumar, Shama, Dashrath, Raju and others participated.