Bengaluru students create new world record on Gandhi Jayanti

Bengaluru, Oct 2: The Venkat International Public School here today created a new Guinness World Record after around 4,600 students assembled at a single venue, all dressed as the Father of The Nation on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

"We are happy to have created a world record on assembling around 4,600 students, all dressed as Mahatma Gandhi at a single venue at Shri Kanteerava Stadium on the occasion of his 146th birth anniversary", the School Executive Director Shekhar Balakrishna told PTI here.

It was an arduous task to assemble around 4,600 students dressed as Mahtama Gandhi as the school management had to spend a huge amount to buy the dresses, garments, skullcaps and spectacles, Balakrishna said.

"We spent a good amount of money. We spent Rs 30 lakh for this," he said. It took one-and-half hours to assemble all the students at the venue and was an exciting sight as the octogenarian granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, Sumitra Gandhi, witnessed the event, Balakrishna said.

"It was a sight to cherish as the grand daughter of the Mahtama blessed the students participating in the event," Balakrishna said.

The students and the management were excited to break the previous world record set by a school in Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu where around 2,900 students were dressed as Mahatma Gandhi in 2013, Balakrishna said.

Talking about the purpose behind the event, Balakrishna said apart from wanting to break the previous world record, the school wanted to instill Gandhian values among students.

"Apart from achieving the new world record, what moved us was to instill the invaluable doctrines and principles by which Mahatma Gandhi stood all his life and gave freedom to Indian Independence with an unique weapon of non-violent Satyagraha," Balakrishna said.

The task was pretty hard, but the management was perfect in following rules and guidelines set by the Guinness World Record authorities and came out victorious by achieving the milestone, Balakrishna said. Another attraction was the 95-year-old Gandhian from Tamil Nadu - Gopal.

PTI