Young Gandhians embark on padyatra to create awareness against corruption

Chennai:
It may be small steps but the resolute is strong as a group of ‘Proud Indians’ embark on a padyatra of 5,000 km from Kanyakumari to New Delhi to spread awareness against corruption in the nook and corner of India.

The team of nine young Gandhians from Hyderabad and Mysore have already covered more than 680 km and reached Chennai after crossing Kanyakumari, Trivandrum, Kochi, Trichur, Calicut, Mysore, Mandya, Bangalore, Vellore and Pondicherry during the last 27 days.

Lead by a Hyderabad social activist Abdul Majid Khan, the padyatris walkathon has interested many IITians in Chennai who joined them during the walk in the campus. And the buzz is that three from the city have expressed keenness to participate in the yatra, which the ‘Proud Indians’ feel is the honest steps to establish a ‘Zero Corruption Day’ on April 8 in New Delhi following the culmination of walk on April 7.

Sleeping at petrol bunks, sheds or abandoned huts, the experience was thrilling says Majid, whose team comprises of studio owners, a soft skills trainer, a techie who resigned his job from Amazon to walk, a architect and a pilot.

“The journey was refreshing as we met people from different walks of life and to whom we had conversations around personal honesty, our responsibility and corruption. The biggest joy in our mission was when people joined us in our march. Even 6 km a day if the citizens walk with us, it just boosts our morale,” said Khan.

Khan said that Kerala had mixed reaction to the padyatra while in Karnataka the response was good. In Kerala, it was the youngsters who encouraged us and wanted to join the march but their parents did not allow them. However, in neighbouring Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the response had been good with many willing to participate in the padyatra.

He said, “There is an anger building up against corruption and we thought we should not allow the energy to fizzle out. We thought of various campaigns including facebook campaign. But then we zeroed in on the padyatra to reach the villages to build our character and carry the message throughout the country.” Those interested to join the padyatra can contact Khan at 09849211083.