On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s 153rd birth anniversary, Congress Rahul Gandhi paid tribute to him on Sunday and said while it is convenient for those in power to appropriate the legacy of the “Father of the Nation”, it is difficult to walk in his footsteps.
Rahul Gandhi also said amid the politics of violence and lies, the Congress’s ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ will spread a message of “ahimsa and ‘swaraj”.
Rahul Gandhi visited to Khadi Gramodyaga Kendra that Mahatma Gandhi had previously visited at Badanavalu, Karnataka, in 1927.
“We remember and pay our respects to that great son of India. Our remembering is made more poignant by the fact that we are on the 25th day of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, a padyatra in which we are walking his path of ahimsa, unity, equality and justice,” the former Congress leader said in a statement.
“Just as Gandhiji fought the British Raj, we … (have) embarked on a battle with the very ideology that killed Gandhi. This ideology has delivered inequality, divisiveness and the erosion of our hard-won freedoms in the past eight years. Against this politics of himsa (violence) and ‘asatya’ (lies), the Bharat Jodo Yatra will spread the message of Ahimsa and Swaraj from Kanyakumari to Kashmir,” he added.
The ideology that killed Gandhi, according to the former president of the Congress, has reflected in inequity, division, and the erosion of hard-won freedoms over the past eight years.
Rahul Gandhi attended a prayer meeting after presenting flowers to the Gandhi statue at Khadi Gramodyog earlier in the day.
“With Gandhi ‘topi’ on his head, Bapu’s values in his heart and intention to unite India, Rahul Gandhi along with other participants of Bharat Jodo Yatra visited Khadi Village Industries at Badnavalu in memory of Bapu on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti,” tweeted Congress.
Gandhi also interacted with women weavers, talked about their professional struggles and difficulties. He planted trees with the help of Bharat Yatris Khadi Garmodyog, Badanavalu.