Live up to Gandhiji's ideals to call him Father of Nation : JP

The maturity and equanimity Indians of all hues and religions displayed before and after the Allahabad High Court verdict on the Ayodhya dispute demonstrated that Gandhiji is alive in the hearts and minds of people, said Lok Satta Party president Jayaprakash Narayan here on Saturday.

He was addressing a meeting at the party headquarters to mark the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastry. Since October 2 happens to be the party’s foundation day, Dr Narayan hoisted the national and party flags.

The Lok Satta chief said that Indians could today boast of a 5000-year-old civilization and culture because Gandhi had toiled to build the nation. Pursuing politics as a noble endeavor, Gandhi produced leaders that led the nation admirably for two generations. The leaders who succeeded them turned out to be parasites. In spite of such leaders, the youth are veering round to the view that there is no alternative to Gandhism to march forward. That was why thousands of youth took part in a rally on Necklace Road earlier in the day pledging to end politics of corruption and usher in ethical politics on Gandhi’s birth anniversary.

Dr Narayan said Gandhi was just another mortal, no taller or bigger than most of us. Yet he demonstrated what leadership means. Practicing what he preached, he could proclaim, ‘My life is my message.’ “We should live up to his ideals if we want to call him the Father of the Nation.”

On the occasion, party activists pledged themselves to uphold national integrity and unity, democracy, secularism, and ethical and rational politics, and adhere to the Gandhian path of truth and non-violence.

Party working president DVVS Varma announced that the party’s leadership summit would take place at Harihara Kala Bhavan in Secunderabad on October 11, 2010.