Mumbai: Concerned about the policy of 'divide and rule' being deployed in the country by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the opposition INDIA alliance will take out a peace march, 'I Am Gandhi' ('Mai Bhi Gandhi') here on October 2, the 154th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.
Mumbai Congress President Prof. Varsha Gaikwad, along with the top leader of the INDIA bloc said that there are incidents of hatred happening frequently in Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra.
"While condemning these incidents, there is also a strong need to inculcate goodwill in the society. The INDIA alliance will spread Gandhiji's teachings of love, peace, and goodwill among the people through the October 2 foot march," said Gaikwad.
She was accompanied by INDIA constituents like Samajwadi Party state president and MLA Abu Azmi, ex-MLA and Nationalist Congress Party leader Vidya Chavan, NCP city President Rakhi Jadhav, Aam Aadmi Party city President Preeti Sharma-Menon, CPI's Prakash Reddy, DMK's state chief A. Meeran, CPI-M's Shailendra Kamble, Peasant & Workers Party leader Samya Korde, JD-U President Amit Jha, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Mohammad Iqbal and others.
Thousands of people are expected to join the 'I Am Gandhi' padayatra to mark the birth anniversaries of Gandhiji and former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri, from Metro Cinema to Mantralaya on Monday afternoon, she added.
Among those who will join are Gandhians and secularists like Tushar Gandhi, Dr. G.G. Parikh, Feroze Mithiborwala, Guddi S. L., Ram Puniyani, Irfan Engineer, Sandhya Gokhale, Niranjani Shetty, Prerna Desai, Ali Bhojani and civil society activists.
Gaikwad said that incidents of hate violence are increasing throughout the country, whether in the form of denying housing to Marathi people or the beating of a Marathi boy in the city, for which the BJP and RSS are responsible.
"We flay these incidents and the BJP's duplicity. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes abroad, he bows before Mahatma Gandhi and Gautam Buddha but back home, his followers glorify the killers of Gandhiji, they hurl slurs, disrespect the National Flag and the National Anthem. Why is the state government not taking action against these people?" Gaikwad questioned.
The social activists who will join the padayatra said it will be themed on 'Nafraton Bharat Chhodo, Mohabbat se Dilonko Jodo, Bharat Jodo, Bharat Jodo', and propagate the ideals of universal peace, brotherhood, and communal harmony.
With inputs from agencies