Mamata suggests organising world peace convention

Banerjee, who on Wednesday attended in Delhi the first meeting of a 'national committee' tasked with planning the events to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi next year, said everyone in the meeting agreed that Gandhiji's philosophy should reach the grassroots level.

"We all have discussed how we can spread and campaign about Gandhian philosophy across the country. There were lots of suggestions from chief ministers and eminent personalities. The president said it is very important for us to maintain the ideology," she told reporters after the meeting.

"All the parties together had suggested that we should celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji in such a way that Gandhi's philosophy reaches the grassroots level. Some people suggested setting up of universities; some suggested calling for a special session of the UN. We have suggested holding a world peace convention. We have also suggested marking a communal harmony year for peace."

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra skipped the meeting.

The leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP veteran L K Advani were among those who attended the first meeting of the 'national committee', sources in the government said.

A total of 23 chief ministers, including those from West Bengal, UP, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh attended the meet, where a blueprint to mark the occasion was discussed. The celebrations are to begin on October 2 this year and continue till October 2, 2020.

The chief ministers of four opposition-ruled southern states did not attend the high-level meeting, sources said.

The chief ministers of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Punjab did not show up.

Chairing the meeting, President Ram Nath Kovind said Gandhi's principle of Ahimsa (non-violence) is very relevant today with the world facing terrorism and other forms of violence.

"Mahatma Gandhi was India's conscience keeper. The Mahatma is our past, he is our present, and he is also our future," the president said.

According to sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the gathering that the nation should celebrate the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi next year "in action" and not through tokenism.

Modi said that it is not enough to just pay homage to the leader but the government should ensure that he lives amongst the people, sources said.

The prime minister said Gandhi's works have to be imbibed in life so that generations to come remember him and the celebration should be in the form of a 'jan andolan' (mass movement).

Sources quoted Azad as having said in the meeting that schools should have a curriculum based on non-violence and proposed an award for fearless journalism.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that her ministry was planning to hold celebrations in 193 countries across the world and there will be one common programme at different venues.

"Happy to participate in the first meeting of National Implementation Committee for Commemoration of 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi at Rashtrapati Bhavan," Vice President Venkaiah Naidu tweeted after the meeting.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Muslim representatives and representatives from abroad, were special invitees.

The members also asked the Centre to form an executive committee with 20-22 members.