In the Mahatma's footsteps

Shantibhai Sakarchand Shah, 83, is a satyagrahi from Anand, Gujarat. A follower of Mahatma Gandhi since the age of 20, Shantibhai joined the re-enactment of the Dandi March. He spoke to Dionne Bunsha on what drove him.

I AM not going to criticise this march. It is good that more people come to know who Gandhi was. They know about Amitabh Bachchan, but they know nothing about the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. This march may be a drama or whatever, but at least it has triggered interest [about Gandhi] in children. It was said that the sun never set on the British empire. Gandhi didn't even wield a stick, but the British feared him. He instilled in people the thought that man is born free, that we will take Swaraj, our birthright, and not demand it.

When I was six years old, Bapu came to our village, in 1928. My sister went and garlanded him. In 1930, he went for the salt satyagraha. Our mother took us, all dressed up in khadi, on a bullock cart to watch him pass by. I enrolled myself as a satyagrahi when I was 16. When I was 20, I came home from the college where I was studying. My mother was surprised to see me back home halfway through the term. She asked me, "What happened?" I asked for her blessings to go to Gandhi's ashram. Everyone in the village told her, "You are sending your young son to die." She said, "They are not doing anything wrong."

I went to Bardoli, where Bapu and Sardar had come to register people. He said, "From now on, you won't have any land or home. Our nation is very poor, our people do not have anything. You will have to teach children, make sure people do not fight amongst themselves. And, what they give you, you will eat. Wherever they put you up, you will sleep." I was at Gowalia Tank in Bombay when the Quit India resolution was passed. It was Do or Die. Nothing else. I was put in jail.

We were not freedom fighters. We were people who followed leaders like Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel. We are satyagrahis. I don't believe in `isms'. I don't think of myself as a Gandhian or anything like that, I follow the path of truth. Gandhi said, "I have come to teach people nothing new; truth and non-violence are as old as the hills." There is nothing to teach, everyone knows what is truth and what is not. Gandhi wanted to teach people to say no, to give them the courage that they could do things. But how? Gandhi showed the road that the entire country could follow. Boycott British goods, give up government jobs, refuse to go to court. There was new hope that we could fight. When he broke the Salt Laws, people got the strength and courage to break the law all over the country. In every house, people were making salt. The atmosphere was transformed. Only when the poorest are happy, can we be free.