Gandhi, Shastri remembered on birth anniv

Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi and India’s second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri were remembered on their birth anniversaries in the city on Thursday. Leaders from various political parties and social activists gathered near their statues—Gandhi’s in Company Bagh and Shastri’s at Shastri Chowk.

Municipal Corporation staff had cleaned both statues the previous evening and erected staircases around them to facilitate the garlanding ceremony. Among those who paid tribute by garlanding the statues were District Congress Committee chief Rajinder Beri, former minister Manoranjan Kalia, ex-MLA Sarabjeet Makkar, and BJP leader Karamjit Chaudhary.

AAP minister Mohinder Bhagat also paid homage by releasing a video, stating, “We should follow good deeds and the principle of non-violence as practiced by Gandhi in our lives. We must learn lessons from their struggle and dedication for the motherland.”

Interestingly, most leaders spent considerable time attending multiple Dussehra melas held today. Since the birth anniversaries coincided with the Dasehra festival, the leaders’ attention was divided across three events.