BENGALURU: Ideas of Mahatma Gandhi are more relevant now than ever before, especially when religious intolerance is taking deep roots, strangulating secularism that India has avowed, activists said Monday, on the eve of 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji. “His concepts of non-violence and inclusiveness are important. The more we imbibe Gandhiji, better we will be as a nation. Even on economy, Gandhi's views that labour is important and technology should not be adopted without thought hold true even now,” said Dr Ajay Kumar Singh, former DG&IGP.
“People abroad talk about Gandhiji more than we do. A books written in the US in the early 1940s says that Gandhiji was one of the greatest persons to have ever lived," he remarked. “Gandhi's ideas on economy were not discussed about a hundred years ago as he was seen more as a political leader. But with civilisational and environmental crises reaching unmanageable proportions because of globalisation, Gandhiji’s development model seems more apt,” said theatre activist Prasanna. “It is imperative that we adopt Gandhiji’s developmental model rather than limiting him to temples. The world should think of dismantling the market-driven economy since it is not working," he said.
