STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: The BJP government at the Centre is trying to “remove” Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology, Jammu and Kashmir Congress president G A Mir alleged on Sunday and asserted that his party will continue to carry forward the philosophy of the father of the nation.
Speaking to reporters after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at his statue at the Satwari Chowk here on his 74th death anniversary, he said the forces who martyred Mahatma Gandhi on this day in 1948 are the same who are involved in “sabotage” in the country.
Working President JKPCC Raman Bhalla, Chief Spokesperson Ravinder Sharma, General Secretary & President Jammu District (Urban) Yogesh Sawhney, General Secretary Th. Manmohan Singh, Mahila President Indu Pawar (Ex-MLA), Seva Dal Chief Sharma with team, PYC President Udhey Bhanu Chib with team, Gurdarshan Singh, Dwarka Choudhary, Sahil Sharma, Vandana Makhnotra, Sonu Dogra, Dr. R.K. Khajuria and other prominent leaders also attended and observed two minutes silence.
“It is unfortunate that Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse is getting weightage over the ideology of Gandhi which is acknowledged by the entire world,” Mir, who was joined by other senior Congress leaders and Sewa Dal chief Vijay Sharma in paying tributes, said.
He said Gandhi is the biggest martyr who sacrificed his life for the country.
“It is unfortunate that the central government in its official order on Martyrs’ Day omitted his name while dedicating the day to all the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the independence of the nation. We are not against it but January 30 was devoted to Mahatma Gandhi. The BJP basically follows the philosophy of Godse and is trying to remove his ideology,” the Congress leader said.
Asked about former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s tweet that “‘Hindutvawadis’ feel the father of the nation is no more. But he is alive, where there is truth , Mir said the reality cannot be kept hidden by putting a veil over it.
“When he is talking about Hindutvawadis, he is talking about the concept which was being followed by Godse. We are against that philosophy and his (Godse’s) radicalised followers. Generally, Hindus do not follow this ideology,” he said.
Mir said Congress workers will safeguard the ideology of Gandhi and will continue to work to strengthen it further to defeat the “divisive forces”.
Bhalla said that Gahdhi was an institution and a philosophy, which can’t be killed, though he was assassinated on this day in 1948 physically.
The philosophy of Gandhi is more relevant today and the philosophy that killed Gandhi has to be defeated and killed to live in peace and harmony in this heterogeneous country, he added.