Cong to hold CWC meet at Wardha on Tuesday; focus on Sevagram

The Congress will hold its working committee meeting here Tuesday to mark the beginning of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary celebrations, and will give a message against the "atmosphere of fear, hate and

violence" prevailing in the country, the party said Monday.

Party chief Rahul Gandhi will be at the Sevagram Ashram in Wardha for the meeting and the Congress will take Mahatma Gandhi's message to all over the country, a party leader said.

There will be a prayer meeting, a 'shanti' (peace) march, and a public meeting at the Sevagram Ashram in which Rahul Gandhi will give his message, he said, adding holding the CWC meeting in Wardha has a lot of symbolism attached to it.

 

"The preliminary deliberations of Individual Satyagraha was held in Sewagram in 1940. The CWC met in Sewagram and adopted the resolution on Quit India movement on July 14,1942," he said.

The Quit India movement was launched in Mumbai on August 8, 1942.

"From March 12-14,1948,a meeting was held in Sevagram with the subject 'Gandhi has gone: who will guide us now' and among those who attended the meeting included the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Vinoba Bhave and Jaiprakash Narayan," he said.

When Gandhiji started his padayatra in 1930 from Sabarmati ashram to Dandi, he had decided not to return to Sabarmati till India was free, the leader recalled.

"Gandhiji was jailed for more than two years and on his release he spent time travelling considerably in central India. He came to Wardha in 1934, at the invitation of businessman and philanthropist Jamnalal Bajaj," the party leader said.

In April 1936, Gandhiji established his residence in the village Shegaon near Wardha which he renamed as Sevagram, which means 'village of service'.