India is be celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on Wednseday, with a number of events lined up across the nation.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat on his 150th birth anniversary.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, BJP veteran L K Advani, Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Hardeep Singh Puri, and BJP working president J P Nadda were among those who paid floral tributes to the father of the nation.
Naidu urged people to implement Gandhian principles in their daily lives.
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"As we pay reverential homage to the Mahatma on his 150th Birth Anniversary, let us strive to transform our lives by internalizing and implementing the Gandhian principles in our daily life," the vice president said in his tweet.
The prime minister said the nation expresses its gratitude to Gandhi for his everlasting contribution to humanity.
"We pledge to continue working hard to realise his dreams and create a better planet," Modi wrote on Twitter.
In a short video on Gandhi, Modi said his message of peace is still relevant to the world community.
The prime minister also referred to the seven perversions Gandhi had cautioned people about. These are: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, visit without ethics, science without humanity, religion without sacrifice and politics without principles.
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Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has extended its Gandhi Sankalp Yatra by a period of three months, according to a circular issued to the party leaders. As per the circular sent to the leaders, the Yatra will now be a 120-day exercise and will end on January 31, 2020, instead of October. Earlier, it was scheduled to be held between October 2 and 31.
The BJP is planning to propagate Gandhi's ideals and principles of non-violence, Swaraj and simplicity to mark his 150th birth anniversary. Posters, banners and kits for the programs to be held during the yatra will be directly sent to the state units from the party headquarters.
Prime Minister Modi paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. He will also also visit Sabarmati Ashram and participate in Swachh Bharat Diwas 2019 program, according to a post on the official Twitter handle of BJP.
Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that India has almost achieved the open defecation free (ODF) target and hoped that Prime Minister will declare India open defecation free on October 2, birth anniversary of Gandhi.
On the other hand, Congress will mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi today by taking out "padyatras" across the country with senior leaders including Rahul Gandhi taking part in the march in New Delhi.
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The march in the national capital will start from Delhi Pradesh Congress office and culminate at Rajghat, the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi. Later, Congress President Sonia Gandhi will administer an oath to leaders and workers "to redeem Gandhi, Gandhism and Gandhi's India".
