The Mahatma would have been amused. His march to the sea in protest against the salt tax imposed by the British will now be emulated by the wife of the British deputy high commissioner in Mumbai, Jill Beckingham, in aid of charity. The irony and symbolism are obvious. What the colonial rulers had initially tended to dismiss as an ineffectual and even laughable attempt to boost the nationalist movement later came to be recognised worldwide as a symbol of non-violent resistance.
Gandhi himself had later compared his salt march to the famous Boston Tea Party of 1773, when the anti-colonial agitators of America dumped tea chests into the sea in protest against the tax imposed on the commodity by British parliament where the Americans had no say. Since then, the padayatra has become an even more potent way of attracting attention than the tea party. In fact, the latter phrase has now been appropriated by an ultra right-wing group in America whose knowledge of history may not stretch back to 1930, let alone 1773.
After the Mahatma, the Janata Party leader, Chandrashekar, had gone on a similar walk from Kanyakumari at the tip of south India to Delhi in 1983 to renew his party’s contact with the people and become aware of their problems. But the end result did not match the earlier hype. Although he did become prime minister, Chandrashekar was known more for the allegations about the way land was acquired for his ‘ashram’ in Haryana than for bringing his party closer to the masses. What the episode showed was how a symbolic gesture could be devalued, especially if today’s politicians get into the act to derive mileage for themselves.
Beckingham’s journey belongs to a different category, for its purpose is to raise funds for causes such as fighting leprosy. Since she will be starting out, as Gandhi did, from the Sabarmati Ashram, it may draw international attention because of the evocative association. It is necessary to remember, however, that Gandhi was used to walking. Even as a law student in London, he avoided public transport to save money. But walking for nearly 400 miles along the famous route cannot be easy for a person, who can be assumed to have led a sheltered life. But it is has been done before, notably by her fellow countryman, Ian Botham, for a similar charitable cause.