Kerala remembered Mahatma Gandhi on his 75th year of martyrdom on Monday with the State government and various organisations, including political parties, holding an array of meetings to recollect Gandhi’s politically and socially relevant message of communal amity and universal peace. January 30 is observed as Martyrs’ Day.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Gandhi was painfully conscious of the threat posed to the polity by majoritarian communalism. “The Mahatma always viewed Hindu nationalists as enemies of India’s secular democratic polity. He fought for Hindu-Muslim amity till the last breath. Gandhi’s concept of India ran against the grain of the Hindu majoritarian nationalism espoused and advanced by the Sangh Parivar,” said Mr. Vijayan.
“Nathuram Vinayak Godse, a religious fanatic beholden to the Sangh Parivar ideology, wounded India when he gunned down Gandhi,” he said.
Mr. Vijayan said the then Central government banned the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) after Gandhi’s assassination. But the RSS now controlled the government and was politically intent on bending the Constitution to its will. The patently anti-minority Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was illustrative of the Sangh Parivar’s agenda, he added.
Senior Congress leaders A.K. Antony, Ramesh Chennithala and others offer floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his 75th death anniversary at Indira Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and former Defence Minister A. K. Antony accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of fanning the flames of hate to maintain the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) hold on power. “The Congress has attempted to forge a unity of purpose among secular democratic parties to defeat the BJP,” he said.
At the Gandhi remembrance day organised by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) at Indira Bhavan here, Mr. Antony said Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra had laid the ground for ridding India of fascist Hindutva forces. Former KPCC president Thennala Balakrishna Pillai also spoke.
Gandhi held a special place in Kerala’s socio-cultural sphere. He had visited the State five times before his death.
In August 1920, Gandhi held discussions with Hindu and Muslim community leaders in Malabar to garner support for the Khilafat Movement. He addressed a rally on the Vellayil beach in Kozhikode. On his second visit to the State in March 1925, he met several prominent personalities, including Sree Narayana Guru and held talks with them on the Vaikom temple entry satyagraha.
In October 1927, Gandhi spoke to school students in Thrissur about the relevance of khadi and met poet Vallathol Narayana Menon.
During his fourth visit to Kerala in January 1934 as part of a fundraising campaign, a 17-year-old girl named Kaumudi offered all her gold ornaments to him for the Independence movement.
In January 1937, Gandhi participated in the celebrations to commemorate the Temple Entry Proclamation in Travancore. He also met Ayyankali and hailed his efforts to bring a backward community into mainstream society.
Published - January 30, 2023 10:26 pm IST
