Gandhi @ 150: 22 Republic Day tableaux showed moments of Mahatma's life
On the Rajpath on Saturday, Mahatma Gandhi was everywhere. Almost.
Various facets of Gandhi's life were mounted on 22 tableaux that rolled down Rajpath during the Republic Day Parade to mark the 150th birth anniversary of the Mahatma.
The Delhi tableau was on Mahatma Gandhi and Delhi and was on his days in the Birla House which is now known as Gandhi Smriti.
The Uttarakhand tableau featured Kausani's Anasakti Ashram where the Mahatma had stayed in 1929. The tableau showed Gandhi writing his book Anasakti Yoga in the ashram with a backdrop of mountains and deodar trees.
Uttar Pradesh commemorated the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi showing him at Kashi Vidyapith.
"Gandhi's ray of hope our composite culture" was Jammu and Kashmir's tableau theme this year.
The Bengal tableau depicted two phases in the Mahatma Gandhi's life -- his stay in Calcutta during India's Independence and his association with Rabindranath Tagore.
The Railways showed the "transformation of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to Mahatma Gandhi" and highlighted the yet-to-be-launched bullet train and Train 18. It highlighted the incident in 1893, when the young Mohandas was thrown out of a European-only compartment at Pietermaritzburg railway station in South Africa which acted as a catalyst for him to return to India and rise against British rule.
Coincidentally, the Republic Day chief guest this year was South African president Cyril Ramaphosa. He is the second South African president to be invited to the event as the chief guest. Nelson Mandela, for whom Gandhi was a role model, was the chief guest in 1995.
The theme for Andaman and Nicobar's tableau was "Role of Gandhiji on inmates of Cellular Jail in Andaman". The tableau showcased the effect that Mahatma Gandhi had among the inmates in the historic jail.
Gujarat depicted the Dandi March and Karnataka Gandhiji and the Belagavi Congress session. Maharashtra chose the Quit India movement.
The ministry of drinking water and sanitation saluted Gandhi as the first champion of sanitation in India which is the inspiration for the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Courtesy : The Telegraph