Chennai, April 29:
Around 50 Gandhians, social activists and Congress members paid floral tributes on Tuesday at the Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha memorial and the Mahatma Gandhi statue near the junction railway station, marking the 96th anniversary of the historic protest. Patriotic slogans were raised as participants flagged off a commemorative yatra to Vedaranyam.
The march, led by Sakthi Selvaganapathi, president of the Heirs of Freedom Fighters and Salt Satyagraha Committee, is scheduled to reach Vedaranyam on April 29. Participants will observe a fast before symbolically picking salt on April 30 to mark the occasion.
The annual event commemorates the 1930 Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha led by C. Rajagopalachari, a close associate of Gandhi. The march, inspired by the famous Dandi Salt March, began in Tiruchy on April 28, 1930, and concluded at the Vedaranyam salt pans on April 30 in defiance of British salt tax laws.
Gandhians from across Tamil Nadu take part in the yatra every year to honour the historic act of civil disobedience and pay tribute to the leaders of India’s freedom struggle.