Guest Lecture - Gandhian Symbolism

On the occasion of 150^th Anniversary celebration of Mahatma Gandhi the Department of History, Political Science and Public Administration jointly organized a Guest lecture on Gandhian Symbolism for the Students of Semester I of B.A, B.A(H) and B.Ed on 2^nd September 2019. The Guest Speaker on this occasion was Dr. Sangeeta Sharma (Associate Professor, Department of History and Indian Culture & Director, Centre for Rajasthan Studies, University of Rajasthan). Ms. Devyani Singh Rathore introduced the speaker to the audience. Prof Sharad Rathore (Head, Department of History) expressed a token of gratitude to the Dr. Sangeeta Sharma.

In this lecture, Dr. Sangeeta Sharma discussed the symbols used by Mahatma Gandhi in the national movement to reach out to the masses. She talked about the difference between the symbol of monarchy and that of Gandhi. She discussed the symbol of salt used by Gandhji in 1930 Civil Disobedience Movement, The Dandi March saw Gandhiji marching from Sabarmati to Dandi, where he broke the law of making own salt followed  by people. This way he was successful in establishing bonds with common masses by using salt as the main symbol because salt was the most common item of consumption by all people rich or poor.

 She also said that the Gandhiji used many symbols in the national movement and his most important symbol was Charkha. Khadi and charkha were very popular in Rajasthan too especially in Bijolia movement. Charkha embodied several things: Swadeshi, self-sufficiency and patriotism etc. Later on, charkha was used all across the country as a major symbol of the National Movement. Khadi signified the symbols of sacrifices and simplicity. She also said that the woman’s also played an important role in popularizing khadi in the freedom movement in Rajasthan such as Ratan Devi Shastri, wife of Hiralal Shastri, who played an important role in Praja mandal movement. However, she also pointed out that fast was also an important symbol of Gandhiji