Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah have said that present-day India is doing what is opposite to ‘equality, justice, love, compassion and tolerance’ as taught by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
According Kashmir Media Service, the Kashmiri politicians said this on the occasion of Gandhi’s 154th birth anniversary, which was celebrated on Monday.
Without mentioning the today’s Hindutva-led regime in India, which is all praise for Nathuram Vinayak Godse, the assassin of Gandhi, Omar Abdullah said that now people only remember the father of India while travelling abroad or when foreign dignitaries visit India.
Nathuram Vinayak Godse shot Gandhi in the chest three times at point blank range at a multi-faith prayer meeting in Birla House in New Delhi on 30 January 1948.
In a post on X’, Mufti said, “Today, as we remember Gandhi ji, one is painfully aware of how far this country has strayed from the ideals of love, compassion and tolerance that he laid his life down for”.
“I’d still like to believe that his sacrifice wasn’t in vain & that sooner or later we will reclaim the India that he envisaged,” Mufti added in the post.
Speaking to reporters in Srinagar, Abdullah said that people are acting opposite to what Gandhi stood for.
“Unfortunately, sometimes it feels that we remember Gandhi only when we travel outside the country or when some foreign leader comes to visit. We tell them about Gandhi ji and take them to Rajghat. For the rest of the year, not only do we forget him but there is an effort to act opposite to what Gandhiji stood for,” Abdullah said.
He said the country should follow Gandhi’s message of equality and justice.
“Gandhiji taught us equality and justice for all. That’s what we need right now,” he said.—KMS
