Overwhelmed by the outpouring of affection for Mahatma Gandhi in Madurai on a day that marked the centenary year of Gandhi’s dress revolution, his granddaughter Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee urged people to read his writings to understand him the best.
In the city to take part at a series of events organised by the Gandhi Memorial Museum to commemorate the day when Gandhi shed his western attire and adopted the iconic shawl and a half-dhoti, she said the world should know more about Madurai and its importance. It was at a house on West Masi Street where Gandhi saw a poor peasant in humble clothing and decided to embrace the loincloth and made his first public appearance immediately thereafter at the Gandhi Pottal on Kamarajar Salai.
The statues of the Mahatma installed at both places were garlanded by Ms. Tara, who was accompanied by her grandson Vithur Bharath Ram, along with A. Annamalai, chairman of Tamil Nadu Gandhi Smarak Nidhi and director, National Gandhi Museum, Delhi, and M. Manickam, chairman of the Gandhi Memorial Museum.
“My grandfather was a karmayogi, who believed in minimalism, and that is what the COVID-19 pandemic is also teaching us,” Ms. Tara told journalists.
She added that today’s youth is in search of Gandhian thoughts, which adults have not been able to convey to them.
“And for that, each of us needs to listen to our conscience and guide our children and youth properly by what we do and not merely say.”
Unwilling to answer questions on any political party or agenda, she said, “Gandhiji was a nagrik [a citizen]. I like individuals and believe in democracy and people’s power, not governments.” She called upon like-minded citizens to reach out to the masses with Gandhi’s messages that would never go obsolete.
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