Surprised at the courage a man as frail as Mahatma Gandhi could show, a promise about handwriting improvement and water conservation and questions about how come he managed to drive out the British but not their language are some of the questions, praises, and criticism that 30,000 primary school students have written in a letter to Bapu. The 20,000 letters written on a postcard addressed to Mahatma Gandhi have already arrived at the Sabarmati Ashram in the city. The students in their letters also apprised Bapu of how his countrymen have given up on non-violence and how alcohol consumption is widespread in the country. Some of the students have requested Bapu to return to the country as deceit and lies have crossed all limits. The letters are part of an exercise that students of Class 6, 7 and 8 participated in the Learning Non-Violence (LNV) programme. “The students were asked to write a letter to Bapu. So far 30,000 students have written and we have got 20,000 of them. They have in their letters told him of their love, criticised him, praised him and even questioned him. The only brief the students were given was to write a letter to Bapu. They were free to choose the tone and subject as long as it was addressed to Bapu,” said Atul Pandya, director, Sabarmati Ashram.

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