Dandi March II got huge response from 10 countries

San Francisco, March 26th: While Dandi March I was a campaign of nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly in colonial India, Dandi march II is a campaign against the Corruption in India. Dandi march II ' happened in 10 states in USA and in the state of California alone marchers covered 45 cities and ended at Gandi Statue at San Francisco. What started as a 240 mile 15 day march initiated by Mr. Jawahar Kambhampati and Mr. Srihari Atluri with a handful of volunteers on March 12th set a wild fire and culminated with marchers marching March 26th in 10 countries, 40 cities in India and 10 states in USA. Indians across the globe, as far as from Nagpur to New Jersey and Sydney to Seattle shouted in one voice to enact 'JAN LOKPAL' bill and ratify UNCAC.

The recent scams involving unimaginably big amounts of money, such as the Commonwealth Games, Adarsh housing scam of Mumbai, monumental corruption and plunder in the allocation of mining leases, serious allegations leveled against judges and even former chief justices of the Supreme Court , 2G scam which broke all previous records are well known. It is estimated that more than half a trillion dollars are stashed away in foreign havens since 1948, while 80% of Indians earn less than 2$ per day and every second child is malnourished.

While the original Dandi march broke the salt laws, the second Dandi march asked for enactment t of 'Jan Lokpal' bill that will bring justice to all Indians by combining and strengthening the anti-corruption laws. Slogans of the participants of the Dandi march II said, 'Corruption ko hatana hi'Bharat ko bachana hi' 'roughly translated to 'we will end corruption to save our mother India'. The support for the march was tremendous. The marchers also chanted 'Raghupati Ragava Raja Ram', Gandhiji's favorite prayer. While the spirited volunteers stopped at the signals/junctions shouting Bharat Mata ki JAI, inspired onlookers in the cars waved and honked to show support.

A team of 6 marchers (Jawahar Khambampati, Srihari Atluri , Kewal Parnami, Srinivas Nandiwada, Subhash Karri and Sunil Kumar) took off from work and completely walked for 240 miles for 15 days irrespective of blistered feet, severe down pour, hot sun and cold weather dedicating each day of the walk to one section of society (Eg:- Teachers, Social Activists, Women, Youth, Farmers, Armed Forces, Freedom Fighters, etc.,) who are acting as building blocks of the Nation. And as such they dedicated the last day of the walk to the Nation. There came along hundreds of NRIs and other local organizations supporting and sharing great ideas and enthusiasm while passing from city to city for these 15 days.

The spirits were at the pinnacle on 26'th March when Indians all over the world tagged along with them. In US, on the last day, events were conducted in 14 cities and around 800 participated. Irrespective of the inclement weather in US, people turned up in hundreds. Some of the major gatherings included San Francisco 150 members, Seattle 100 members, NJ 100 members, Houston 100 members, Carbondale 70 members. In another 10 counties, around 200 people participated. In India 8000 participated in 40 cities and some of the major cities include Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur and Ahmadabad. A Huge number of participants were seen in Bangalore with 400 members, Penukonda with 400 members, Karimnagar with 500 members, Nandyala with 500 members, Srikakulam with 600 members, Mumbai with 600 and Siddipet with 800 members.

An open letter addressed to Prime Minister's Office was released globally at every location that they will not be mute spectators while corruption grows boundless back in India and as such system changes should be brought in. Later Jawahar Kambhampati, who was the initiator of the idea of Dandi March II, submitted a memorandum to Mahatma Gandhi to save country from corruption.

This effort now has support from the stalwarts in anti-corruption movement and other progressive groups in India such as Lok Satta Party (Jaya Prakash Narayan, National Chairman), India Against Corruption (Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal, New Delhi) , Save India From Corruption, People For Loksatta (USA), Youth For Better India (Hyderabad), The 5th Pillar (Vijay Anand, Chennai; Shobila Kali USA), Bharat Swabhiman (Babaram dev), Shankara Eye Foundation and Saaku (Bangalore). Towards the end all the Supporters of the Walk left with a pledge of NOT giving or taking a bribe for rest of their life.

With a great sense of gratitude and satisfaction the team concluded the event successfully at the Feet of Father of the Nation. Many of the marchers including Subhash Karri are planning to continue the movement by joining Anna Hazare's fast in Delhi on Apr 5'th 2011 for the same cause.

Complete details can be obtained by visiting www.DandiMarch2.org or reaching dandimarch2@gmail.com contact.