Gandhi emoji will be live through the week, starting from October 2.
Celebrate Gandhi Jayanti on Twitter with an emoji of the Mahatma Gandhi himself. Twitter India is rolling out a special Gandhi emoji to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation on October 2. The emoji, which goes live on October 2, will remain active through the week, Twitter India said in a statement.
The emoji will appear when users tweet using the following hashtags – #GandhiJayanti, #MahatmaGandhi, #MKGandhi, #BapuAt150, #MyGandhigiri, #NexusOfGood, #MahatmaAt150, #गाँधीजयंती, #ગાંધીજયંતિ. The emoticon shows a caricature of Mahatma Gandhi with the blue and white colours in the backdrop (symbolic representation of colours of the Twitter logo).
This is not the first time that the social media platform is using specific emojis for a particular event. In the past, Twitter has celebrated festivals such as Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Independence Day, Republic Day, International Day of Yoga and Ambedkar Jayanti with customised emojis.
October 2, the birth anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti across the country. Bapu, as he is fondly addressed, was a freedom fighter who led India’s independence movement against the colonial rule of Britishers. Gandhi was instrumental in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the Dandi Salt March in 1930 and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He also organised people for the non-cooperation movement. The United Nations also celebrates October 2 as the International Day of Non-Violence to honour Gandhi’s belief in peace and non-violence.
In India, the government has announced a two-year celebration to mark the 150th anniversary of Gandhi. The day also marks the anniversary of Modi government’s flagship cleanliness drive – Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan.