The India that Gandhi fought for was an inclusive one: Kerala CM

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said the people who assassinated the Father of the Nation are trying to make Mahatma Gandhi their own and interpret his statements in their favour.

The CPI(M) leader”s remarks came as the BJP and its rival parties battled to claim Gandhi”s legacy on his 150th birth anniversary.

Paying homage to the Father of the Nation, Vijayan said the India that Gandhi fought for was an inclusive one, where no one was considered a pariah.

In a Facebook post, he said the values that Gandhi upheld remain relevant even after a century. “But today some are trying to take the country backwards from Gandhi”s ideals.”

“Those who assassinated Gandhi are trying to make Gandhi their own. They are trying to interpret Gandhi”s statements in their favour,” Vijayan wrote.

In this context, this year”s Gandhi Jayanti had assumed greater significance, he said.

Vijayan, who paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Kerala House in New Delhi, urged people to pledge themselves to safeguard his ideals.

“Mahatma”s life has given us a moral imperative, to uphold the secular founding values of our republic.

“The India he fought for was an inclusive one, where no one was considered a pariah. Let”s pledge ourselves to uphold those ideals,” Vijayan said in his post.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan paid tributes to the Father of the Nation at the Gandhi statue inside the legislative complex here.

“… Today, 2nd October, is the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Mahatma, whose message of non-violence continues to guide us,” Khan tweeted.

The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee arranged state-wide programmes and all-religion prayers along with padayatras to commemorate the occasion.

Congress Working Committee (CWC) member A K Antony flagged-off the Thiruvananthapuram leg of the padayatra.

Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Ramesh Chennithala and state Congress chief Mullappally Ramachandran launched foot marches from Ernakulam and Kozhikode respectively.

Among various programmes across the state, the National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH) organised a visual representation of the favourite bhajans of Mahatma Gandhi in Indian Sign Language (ISL) here.