Deepali Verma
Glancing back 76 years ago, there reverberated a shockwave across every citizen of Bharat as its ‘father’ had three bullets rammed into his chest by Nathuram Godse. January 30 every year is commemorated as the confluence of Mahatma Gandhi’s Punyatithi and Martyr’s Day. This year witnessed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as President Droupadi Murmu reach Rajghat to pay their respective floral tributes.
In addition to the aforementioned celebration, Martyr’s Day was observed as well. A significant ritual is to observe two minutes of silence to reminisce and reflect on the sacrifice made by our martyrs to emote our gratitude for their contributions.
In order to pay respects to the spirit of Martyr’s Day and celebrate the 76th death anniversary of Bapu, several leaders took their official social media accounts on X and emphasised on the need for having a leader like Gandhi. Similarly, PM Modi, wrote on X, “I pay homage to Pujya Bapu on his Punya Tithi as well as to all those who have been martyred for our nation. Their sacrifices inspire us to serve the people and fulfil their vision for our nation.”
Honouring the contribution of Gandhi to the nation with combined remembrance of the service of those sacrificed, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh wrote, “I pay homage to Pujya Bapu on his Punyatithi. The nation will always remain thankful for his contributions. On this day, we also pay tributes to all those who laid down their lives in service to the nation.”
On this day in 1948, Mahatma Gandhi, in company of his grandnieces was headed to attend an evening prayer at Birla Bhavan, Delhi, when he was shot and unfortunately, he succumbed on-the-spot. His contributions and teachings, however, have managed to transcend beyond his lifespan; the timelessness of which is such that it is still relevant in today’s geopolitics.
Globally, Gandhi is renowned for influencing minds to engage in the practice of peace and non-violence or ahimsa. He has been the frontrunner of numerous freedom movements in the country that translated as a movement of inspiration vouching for a bouquet of values and principles that he stood in support of.
Over the stretch of the entire sub-continent, the citizens and their collective prayers marked the death anniversary while they also gathered at memorials and statues of the freedom fighters to pay homage to those sacrificed.
