A Convention upon #GandhiKaSandesh

23 September 2019, Ranchi : On the occassion of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Jharkhand State Lok Samiti and Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra organized a convention upon “Gandhi Ka Sandesh” or the Message of Gandhi at Shantman Nagar office of NBJK. Mr. Ivan Nutbrown, a British Gandhian and an admirer of India, was the chief guest of this program. He served as a volunteer at Bagaha Ashram (Gaya) during his youth and highly impressed by the thoughts of Gandhi, Vinoba and JP. He leads an active life based upon Gandhian philosophy. His address was focused upon the image and relevance of Gandhiji in UK & Europe. He said that there was a divided psyche upon Gandhi which shown us Churchill to call him a half naked fakir and at the same time made thousand of labourers at Lancashire to love him. Mr. Nutbrown called 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi as the world event and accepted that new generation knows him through the film by Richard Attenborough. For liberals in UK & Europe, Gandhi is an inspiration who provided ideological foundation for leaders like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, he said. He mentioned the success of Gandhian groups in UK on environmental issues and about the very campaign of Ekta Parishad as Jay Jagat March 2020 from Delhi to Geneva supported by Gandhian groups based in western countries. Mr. Nutbrown shared about his association with an organization “Khadi London” and said about people’s positive perception for Gandhi who contributed a lot to independence movement of India with peace & non-violence. In the convention, Mr. Girija Satish (National President, Lok Samiti) called Gandhi as a complete great personality who touched almost every aspect of human life. He was religious but not communal, Girija said and lighted upon 11 vows of Gandhi, concept of Trusteeship and his idea of rational development. The national president of Lok Samiti stated that Gandhiji lived his principles and changed people’s mindset with programs like Champaran Satyagrah, liquor prohibition and by opposing social evils openly. Gandhi is our strength against the rising incidents of mob lynching, liquor led crimes and violence. He suggested to celebrate 150th anniversary of Gandhi by organizing Goodwill programs across India. Also messrs Wazir Ahmad (vice-president, JSLS), K. G. Azad (national co-ordinator, Lok Samiti), Shailendra Mishra, Dr. Viswanath Azad, Narendra Mahto, Manoj Dangi, Rajeev Singh, Shankar Rana (co-ordinator, JSLS) and others have expressed their views. The convention has passed a resolution unanimously to celebrate Mahatma’s birthday as Goodwill Day in Jharkhand.