Gandhiji lived among poor to become mass leader: Capt. Pandu Ranga Panel Discussion held at MANUU

Hyderabad: Gandhiji worked tirelessly for social and economic causes along with leading the political battle to make the freedom struggle a mass movement. When Gandhiji started a campaign for labourers in Ahmedabad, he came to know that labourers did not even have food to eat then he stopped taking dinner and wearing shirts onwards. In this way he became a mass leader.

 These views were expressed by eminent historian and activist Captain L Pandu Ranga Reddy while participating in a panel discussion today at Maulana Azad National Urdu University. The panel discussion on “Relevance of Gandhiji in Modern Times” was organized under Instructional Media Center (IMC) YouTube channel's program "Gahwara-e-Aman" on the eve of Gandhi Jayanthi.

 Prof. Siddiqui Mohammad Mahmood, Registrar in charge was the moderator of the discussion. Prof. Afroz Alam, HoD Political Science A film festival was also organized at the university from September 23 to October 1 in connection with Gandhiji's 150^th birth anniversary.

 Captain Pandu Reddy said that Gandhiji himself admitted that he was inspired by famous literary works from the West but as a matter of fact the book which impressed him the most was the Quran. By studying the Qur'an in-depth he imbibed good values such as Socialism, trustworthiness and virtues. In this way he did not remain just a Indian or a Hindu, but emerged as a better human.

 Gandhiji was a follower of the truth right from his childhood. Once the school inspector asked him some question which he could not answer correctly. He refused to give correct answer to school inspector even after his teacher told him the answer.

Prof. S M Rahmatullah, Vice Chancellor in charge in his video message said that perhaps there is nothing about Mahatma Gandhi that people do not know. Gandhiji did such things that were impossible for others to emulate. He resorted to non-violence to break the power of the British rule. If his famous saying, “Bura mat kaho, Bura mat suno, Bura mat dekho” be followed then peace will prevail over the world.

 Prof. Afroz Alam, Head, Department of Political Science while participating in the discussion said that Gandhiji was a perfect blend of idealism and realism. He did not separate the freedom struggle from religion. He continued to lead the people in the freedom struggle while upholding religious principles as he believed every religion teaches non-violence. Mahatma Gandhi tried to solve various public issues such as untouchability, cruelty against women, Hindu-Muslim riots etc. and became mass leader.

 Moderator, Prof. Siddiqui Mohammad Mahmood recited the Urdu poem "Love for Mankind" at the beginning and introduced the guests panelist. He also asked various questions about Gandhiji to the guests. Although Gandhiji did not consider his Gandhiism as a separate philosophy but the whole world is following it today, he remarked.

 Mr. Rizwan Ahmed, Director, IMC supervised the arrangement of online telecast of the panel discussion.