Special Event - Gandhi Jayanti celebration short speech by Ankana Sadhukan

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as the “Father of the Nation”, was born on October 2, 1869, to Karamchand and Putlibai Gandhi in the small town of Porbandar, near the Kathiyawad coast in Gujarat. Every year on 2nd October we celebrate Gandhi Jayanti to pay tribute to our dear Bapu.

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose gave Mahatma Gandhi the title of “Father of the Nation” Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday is also celebrated as the International Day of Non-Violence. Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated to remember Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of peace and non-violence non-violence and also to inspire and teach the present generation of his contribution in the freedom struggle. In Mahatma Gandhi’s honour, the UN General Assembly declared 2nd October as International Day of Non-Violence on 15th June, 2007.

Known as a strict disciplinarian, Mahatma Gandhi also possessed an "infectious" sense of humour, a quality that helped him withstand the rigours of the arduous journey of country's freedom struggle. Mahatma Gandhi’s humorous side was just as quintessential as his serious side.

Gandhi ji was the youngest of the six children of the family was loved by all. His childhood nickname was Moniya. From his childhood itself, Gandhi ji did not believe in violence. When if his brothers playfully hit him, or pulled his ears, he would never hit them back. At the age of seven, Moniya had to leave Porbandar to go to Rajkot. Moniya missed the coast. His father was the ‘diwan' of Rajkot. Moniya was sent to school in Rajkot, but he was very shy and didn’t mingle easily with others. He didn’t have many friends except one called Uka. Uka, according to the prejudices of those times, was an untouchable. But Gandhiji Never believed in these social divisions and befriended Uka, and never hesitated to share his things with him. Here we see that Mahatma Gandhi was also a firm believer of equality.

Mahatma Gandhi’s life had many ups and downs. In his life there were many things that people looked up to as a motivation and praised him while others detested some if his idea, especially his concept of ‘non-violence', where people say that he was trying to appease the British too much. But these accusations were quite contradictory to his actions on many occasions, such as a meeting in South Africa where he firmly told the British to leave India in the presence of several high-ranking officers and Maharajas of India.

In spite of these claims, Mahatma Gandhi never abandoned his beliefs. His principles included ‘satya' (truth), ‘ahimsa' (non-violence), and ‘samanta' (equality). Mahatma Gandhi also introduced the ‘Swadeshi and Boycott movement’, which was one of the most important movements to drive the British out of India.

Gandhi went to South Africa as a lawyer, and while going there, Gandhi was thrown out of his first class carriage and was asked to travel in a lower class just because he was Indian, a man of colour. Gandhi however, did not do so and stayed all night in the station until he was permitted to travel by first class. Why would he travel by a lower class if he had a first class ticket?

Even though he went to South Africa as a lawyer, he spent most of his time fighting injustice and for the social rights of people. Mahatma Gandhi played a very important role in the freedom struggle, to drive the invaders from our beloved motherland.

Without Gandhi’s continued efforts, and so many others too, we don’t know where we would have stood today. Mahatma Gandhi was a great soul and a true inspiration of many. And I’m proud to say that I’m born in his country.