Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals and philosophies are relevant more today than at any other time before, Congress leaders at a meeting on his death anniversary said.
“People think Mahatma Gandhi’s ideal of non-violence is weakness. Many have this perception that non-violence is weakness. But it’s the most powerful weapon in the world,” Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri said.
He said Gandhi’s ideology was to oppose something but with non-violence.
“The government will fear non-violence, make authorities fall in line and laws will change. The path for this was laid by Gandhi,” he said.
Mr. Alagiri said India can be self-sufficient on the economic front and needs to get back to the Gandhian ideology of making each village self-sufficient and manufacture products within the country.
AICC secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu, Sanjay Dutt said, “never before in history have Gandhi's ideals been in relevance more than today. The ruling party and its allied organizations are the ones who are propagating the killers of Gandhi. All of us need to protect and preserve the ideals of Gandhi. He continues to be the inspiration the world over”.
Dr. M.K. Vishnu Prasad, MP, said the world was now watching how India was being split on religious lines under the current regime. TNCC working president R.Mohan Kumaramangalam said those who are calling Godse a deshbhakt are ruling the country. “But they also don’t have any choice but to celebrate Gandhi,” he said.
Documentary filmmaker Bharathi Krishnakumar, Prof. Chitra Balasubramanian, also spoke.