Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch countrywide events today to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Today Modi will visit Rajghat, the resting place of Father of the Nation, at 7.20am. He will also visit Vijayghat, the resting place of former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, who also shares his birthday with Gandhi.
Modi will go to parliament where he will pay floral tributes to both leaders. Later in the evening, he will fly to Ahmedabad and visit the Sabarmati Ashram. The prime minister, who launched the Swachh Bharat campaign on October 2 in 2014, in remembrance of Gandhi, will take part in an event for cleanliness there.
Bharatiya Janata Party president and Home Minister Amit Shah will address a small gathering in Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh where he will flag off a Gandhi Sankalp Yatra from the Ramleela Maidan there.
Congress leaders, led by the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi, will lead a Gandhi Sandesh padyatra as part of a week-long celebration to mark the 150th birth anniversary. The march will start at 9.30am from the Delhi Congress office.
Indian consulate general in New York will hold a celebration at Union Square to celebrate Mahatma Gandhi.
Over 10,000 students will assemble their own solar lamps and light them together to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, as part of the Global Student Solar Assembly and an attempt to enter the Guinness Book World Record.
The event will be attended by federal ministers R K Singh and Prakash Javadekar.
BJP working president J P Nadda will hold a Gandhi Sankalp Yatra at Chand Vatika, near Khaira village, and Javadekar will join the event at Chuna Bhatti area of Kirti Nagar in Delhi.
All Delhi MPs and senior BJP leaders will join this yatra at different points across Delhi today.
Ever since Modi’s government came to power in 2014, October 2 is being celebrated with much fanfare.
The Indian Railways has emblazoned Gandhi’s pictures on locomotives to mark his 150th birth anniversary. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan urged people to register on the Rakt Kosh app on Gandhi Jayanti and pledge to donate blood at least once a year.
In Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s government will hold a special assembly session today. However, opposition parties have decided to boycott the session.
In Hyderabad, BJP leaders will pay homage to Gandhi at Bapu Ghat in the morning and then launch a padayatra from Ganesh Chowk, Khairatabad, Hyderabad.
Besides political functions, several organisations have planned functions to mark the day. Many schools and colleges held functions yesterday to mark Gandhi Jayanti.