Sonia Gandhi at Matwad, 310 km from Ahmedabad, during the commemorative Dandi march on Tuesday. (AFP)

Dandi, April 6: The sun was merciless, but the three hundred thousand people did not seem to notice.

Most of them walked, among them tribals, farmers, women and children, people of different faiths and even from other countries. Others came in cars as they converged in this coastal village to celebrate the grand finale of the re-enactment of the march of the man who walked all his life.

?This is festival for us, for every citizen in this state,? said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as the Congress-organised march to mark the 75th anniversary of Gandhiji?s satyagraha to protest the British government?s decision to impose salt tax ended on the shores of the Arabian Sea.

Gandhiji had stayed at a Muslim?s house in Dandi to start his satyagraha. Like him, Singh added, ?our spirit is to take all with us and build an India of Gandhiji?s dreams?.

Thousands poured in even after the function was over. On the 16-km stretch from Navsari to Dandi, vehicles crawled, bumper to bumper.

Singh announced a Rs 10-crore development package for the Sabarmati ashram and the way, he added, will be developed as a ?heritage route?. The Prime Minister said a huge statue of Gandhiji would be installed in Dandi and the places where he stayed developed as heritage spots. A big library will also be set up.

Presiding over the function, Sonia Gandhi, who reached Dandi yesterday by marching along with participants on the last leg of the nearly 400-km yatra, said ?there is something fascinating about this place?.

?I?m happy to be here again,? she added. Sonia had joined a re-enactment of the Dandi March in 1988, then led by her late husband Rajiv Gandhi.

Sonia, who stood on the exact spot where Gandhiji had taken salt in his hands, said ?it was a lifetime experience to walk on the path which the Mahatma walked?.

In an obvious reference to her party?s campaign against communal politics in Gujarat, Sonia said Gandhiji had called the march ?Dandi Kooch?, a term usually used for an army. When an army moves, it wants to ensure victory, she said. But unlike an army, Gandhiji did not have weapons. His weapons were truth and non-violence, because of which ?Bapu still lives in our heart?.

?We seem to have lost the essence of Gandhiji?s spirit,? she rued.

In such a scenario, she said, ?the only guiding light can come from one who kept walking all his life?.

Sonia thanked those who came from all parts of the country and from abroad to join the march. People from seven countries had come to join the march. Among them were 92 Pakistanis.

Overwhelmed by the experience, a young participant from Andhra Pradesh, Meenaxi Natrajan, attributed the hospitality and warmth she has received to Gandhiji?s spirit that, she said, is still alive in the hearts of people.