
Thus spoke the Mahatma
We remember Mahatma Gandhi ritually on his anniversaries but he is worth remembering each day as the voice of sanity?
I realise this anew from the hand-written Urdu jottings of Maulana Azad that I recently translated. These jottings are from my personal archives and I’d like to share what the Maulana recorded of Bapu’s address at a prayer meeting in Patna on March 12, 1947.
"Religion is one tree with many branches. As branches, you may say, religions are many, but as a tree, religion is only one. No religion taught man to kill fellowmen because they held different opinions or was of another religion."
"Religions are not for separating men from one another, they are meant to bind them. I do not expect India of my dreams to develop one religion, that is, to be wholly Hindu or wholly Mussalman but I want it to be wholly tolerant with its religions working side by side with one another."
Azad had underlined these words of Gandhi as important: "God resides everywhere, not in the Bible and the Quran, in a mosque or a temple, but in the nose, ear, nail or even a single hair of the body. I have been taught ever since my childhood that God resides everywhere. It is one and the same thing whether one worships Him in a mosque, a temple or a church. I am as much an idol-worshipper as an idol-breaker. Yet, when I go to a temple, I’m happy when I find it neat and clean."

Govt ready to amend farm laws, says Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar

1 village, 1 tractor, 15 men and 10 days: Tikait's formula for farmers' protest

Covid-19 LIVE: Hundreds of people protest against face mask rules in US state
- In India, the cases reached 11.19 million and the death toll stands at 157,656. The country has inoculated more than 20 million in the ongoing vaccination drive.

Kerala CM slams union minister amid calls for resignation over smuggling case

Tamil Nadu bus conductor who planted 3 lakh saplings in 30 years wins praise

Congress releases first list for Assam after ‘rumblings’ in unit

‘Golden moment’: TMC ex-MP Trivedi joins BJP

A month on, questions remain over cause of Chamoli disaster

20 years on, court acquits 122 people accused of SIMI links

Bihar finance dept sounds alert against attempts of irregular fund withdrawal
- The finance department has written to the top brass of various departments, offices and administration to ensure strict compliance to the finance and treasury rules for maintaining fiscal discipline.

Union minister proposes collection drive for beautification of Jagannath Temple
- In a letter to Puri king Gajapati Dibya Singha Deb, Union minister for petroleum and natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan urged him to launch a mass fund collection drive to enable contribution by crores of devotees of Lord Jagannath for the development of the Jagannath Temple heritage corridor.

Cumulative Covid-19 vaccinations cross 20-million mark: Government

Issue of national security key as govt decides on cryptocurrency, says Thakur
- Cryptocurrency is, however, not legally banned and the government is in the process of enacting a law on this matter.

Need to develop military into ‘future force’: PM Modi at top commanders’ meet
- The PM asked the three services to rid themselves of legacy systems and practices that are no longer relevant.
