On a rainy Saturday, hundreds of people, a majority of them college students, streamed into Ravindra Kalakshetra premises to attempt a modern-day Satyagraha, coinciding with Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary celebration.
The Gram Seva Sangha’s #SatyagrahaMaadi, a mass youth Satyagraha programme, was a day of fasting, meditation, art and music and honouring the Gandhian legacy.
The event, which commenced at 9 a.m., saw music performances and a fashion show too, and the participants ended their fast at 4 p.m. The organisers said around 600 people participated in the event.
‘Youth want unity’
“Young people, contrary to the popular notion, want to come together and want unity. They do not want religious intolerance. They want love,” said Prasanna Heggodu, founder of the sangha.
Participants seeing the charkhas at work at #SatyagrahaMaadi in Bengaluru on Saturday. | Photo Credit: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
#SatyagrahaMaadi was also an attempt to make the concept of Satyagraha attractive to the youth. Youngsters who participated in the event found the concept interesting. “I wanted to learn more about Satyagraha, which is why I came,” said Mamta, a first-year student from Jain University.
Amrutha Bindu, a first-year student from Seshadripuram College, said, “The event taught us not to promote casteism, and treat everyone as equal.”