Hundreds of Indians and foreigners who consider Mahatma Gandhi their hero and role model descended on his former hermitage in west India Friday ahead of the re-enactment of his famous "salt march" 75 years ago. The 388 kilometre (241 mile) march, due to get under way early Saturday, will be led by members of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, run by the late Gandhi's great-grandson Tushar and supported by India's ruling Congress party.
Congress party President Sonia Gandhi, who will flag off the event, said the re-enactment of the 1930 protest will reawaken the youth to the message that Gandhi's "path is the only one that can truly serve the nation."
"Seventy five years ago, Mahatma Gandhi's march had triggered a flame of freedom in every Indian," said Gandhi.
"With this march, we are not just expressing faith in Gandhi, but our bigger aim is to make the new generation of India aware of Gandhi's ideals," she added.
Joining the march will be several hundred admirers of Mahatma Gandhi, among them retired teachers, government employees and students as well as dozens of foreigners who have travelled to India specially for the march.
"Gandhi is my hero," said Christopher Zink, a student from the United States. "This march will help me know him more closely. I will walk the entire distance and see all the places where he stopped and gave sermons."
Shang Quan-Yu, a professor from China's southern Guangdong province, said that when he came to know of the march he immediately decided to join.
"Gandhi is a symbol of peace and non-violence. Today's world is the same as in the Gandhi era. There is strife and conflict. We badly need Gandhi today," Yu said.
Seventy-year-old Joyce Barnett from the US state of Florida had tears in her eyes when she spoke of Gandhi.
"I am a child of the United States of the depression and World War II. It brings tears to my eyes to see that even at the end of our lives, the world has not changed," she said.
Retired Indian government officer Uttam Ramchander Kamble, 61, said he had travelled from neighbouring Maharashtra state to participate in the march. "A message will go from this march to our corrupt politicians that here was a leader who shook the entire world with a fistful of salt," Kamble said.
"At least 60 to 70 foreigners have come and more will join us later," said Tushar Gandhi at the Sabarmati Ashram, Gandhi's hermitage in Ahmedabad, the main city of western Gujarat state, from where the march will begin at dawn.
Foreigners have been warned not to wear shorts and women not to wear revealing tops so as not to offend local sensibilities during the march. Organisers expect the 200-300 people who begin the trek to be joined by hundreds of others along the way before it ends at the southern Gujarat coastal town of Dandi on April 6, where participants will be welcomed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.