Remembering Gandhi Ji & Shastriji
A grateful nation celebrates today the birth anniversary of Gandh Ji, Father of the Nation. It has become a ritual with the powers that be either at the Centre or States to pay courtesy call at Rajghat and offer garlands as a token of tributes to the departed noble soul. Gandhi Ji did not lay down his life for earning these rituals. He never clamoured for any coveted office and rather led a life of an ordinary Indian peasant or a hermit. He experimented with nonviolence, truth, Satyagraha and found these ideals as worth putting into practice. He strove hard to eliminate the curse of untouchability from the India society.
Today is the solemn occasion for all of us to emulate the ideals cherished by Gandhi Ji and putting even a single ideal into our practice will be real tribute to the Father of the Nation. Our dalit brethren have to be brought into the national mainstream and this task cannot be left to the Government alone but calls for our involvement with sincerity and dedication. Let’s strive for this goal.
2nd October also marks the birth anniversary of late Lal Bahadur Shastri, the former Prime Minister of India, along with the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Shastriji died in harness when India was about to score victory over Pakistan dusing the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war. Shastriji gave a simple solution to tide over the food crisis then facing the country owing to famine and drought. He advised the countrymen to skip one-time meals once a week and tone down the number of guests in marriage and other celebrations as a practical step to save food and other edibles. This was a simple and practical solution which could be adopted and practiced by each and every one without any hitch and country did follow it for some time and then forgot.
We can emulate this advice of Shastriji and put into practice in our daily life. This will help save food and keep us physically fit and agile. The saved food can be utilized for the benefit of the needy and under-nourished segments of the society. Let’s pledge on this solemn occasion to skip half-day meals once a week. This will be the fittest tribute to Shastriji.
