A foot march on the theme 'Bachcha Bachcha Gandhi' was held from heart of the capital city Jaistambh to Gandhi Maidan on Wednesday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Highlight of the programme was a procession taken out from Jaistambh Chowk to Gandhi Maidan of Raipur by thousands of children from more than twenty schools dressed up as Mahatma Gandhi.
Children were accompanied by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, AICC’s Chhattisgarh in-charge and member of Rajya Sabha PL Punia, PCC chief Mohan Markam, MLA Kuldeep Juneja, Mayor Pramod Dubey, and a large number of public representatives as well as citizens.
Later the procession was converted into a massive public gathering at historical Gandhi Maidan.
In his address to the public gathering, Chief Minister recalled that in year 1933, the Father of the Nation had addressed a public meeting on the same ground.
“Today, thousands of children dressed up in 'dhoti’, ‘Gandhi Topi' and holding ‘lathi’ followed the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi,” he said.
Earlier, Chief Minister welcomed the children dressed as Mahatma Gandhi at Jaistambh Chowk and praised their get up. He said that Mahatma Gandhi had given to the world the message of ‘truth and non-violence.’
“We have to reform Chhattisgarh and the entire country by following the footsteps of him,” Baghel said.
On the occasion, Chief Minister also distributed bags made up of cloths to encourage people to minimize use of plastic bags.
Speaking on this occasion, AICC in-charge Punia said that he was overwhelmed to see children dressed as Gandhi.