On a three-day visit to his constituency in Wayanad in north Kerala, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said whatever the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi said he translated into action and present-day people in power would do well to draw lessons from his teachings and actions.
“The powerful thing about Gandhiji was that whatever he said he put into action. If he said India should be tolerant then he behaved in a tolerant way. He said India should be a secular country and he behaved in a most secular manner. He had Gita, Bible, Quran and Guru Granth Sahib as his guide,” he said while unveiling the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Mananthawady.
Later he had sadya (rice on plantain leaf with many traditional curries) with tribal students from the district who had cracked the common law admission test. The district was in the news in the first week of August after 9 students cleared the CLAT, seven of them from the Kattunayakkan community, most backward and vulnerable among the district population.
“Today we have many people who say the country should be fair and they treat others unfairly. They say they want a secular nation but they themselves view religions differently. For me the statue is much more about the practice than it is about the personality,” he said without taking any names.
{{/usCountry}}“Today we have many people who say the country should be fair and they treat others unfairly. They say they want a secular nation but they themselves view religions differently. For me the statue is much more about the practice than it is about the personality,” he said without taking any names.
{{/usCountry}}On his three-day visit (August 16-18), he will be attending many programmes including the inauguration of two drinking water projects. Wayanad turned the first district in the country to vaccinate nearly 100 per cent of the eligible population. Young collector Adeela Abdulla, also a doctor, and a team of committed health officials were lauded by many. Gandhi also called on the collector.