From Varanasi to Delhi: Rajghat to Rajghat, Gandhians on the march

By Rosamma Thomas* 

Sarva Seva Sangh, publisher of books on the freedom struggle and related subjects, with its offices at Rajghat, Varanasi, was displaced by the Varanasi district administration and Indian Railways in July 2023. In August 2023, although the matter was still in court, the authorities demolished most of the buildings on the 13-acre plot on the banks of the Ganga. 

Now, Gandhians have decided to undertake a nearly 800 km march to protest and press for justice – from Rajghat, Varanasi, to Rajghat, Delhi. The marchers will set off on Gandhi Jayanti, 2025; and arrive in the national capital on November 26, marking the anniversary of the day in 1949 when the Constitution of independent India was adopted by the Constituent Assembly.

Gandhians have been in protest mode to reclaim the land and restart activities at Rajghat, Varanasi, where regular classes were earlier held for children of boatmen and ragpickers. Books on the freedom struggle were made available cheap to a large number of readers, thanks to the press that operated at those premises. The Gandhians on protest in the two years since the takeover of their campus in Varanasi have used fasts and dharnas, tools of protest Gandhi used against the British empire.

Independent India now witnesses a spate of isolated protests – bank employees protesting privatization of public sector banks, loco pilots of the Indian Railways protest seeking timely recruitment of additional staff and proper rest and toilet breaks, workers protest the repeal of 44 labour laws and the introduction of the new labour codes, farmers demand legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price, youth protest frequent examination paper leakages that stall government recruitment, villagers protest takeover of their lands for mining or large projects without adequate compensation. All this, even as instances of brazen manipulation of voter rolls and engineered election results are surfacing, leaving no doubt about the “hackability” of elections in India.

It is at this time that even the Gandhians have decided to set out on their long march; they march in solidarity with workers, farmers, youth, students, and the poor oppressed, who struggle to make ends meet at a time of high inflation and stagnant wages.

Chandan Pal, president of the Sarva Seva Sangh, with its headquarters in Wardha, Maharashtra, and Sarita Behen, of Vinobha Ashram, Gagode village in Maharashtra, will be part of this march. Among the slogans raised is, “We will not tolerate injustice, peaceful struggle will continue till justice is achieved.”

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*Freelance journalist