New Delhi, Sept. 29: A day before the Ayodhya verdict, the Centre invoked Mahatma Gandhi.

“Ishwar Allah Tero Naam, sabko sanmati de Bhagwan ,” Union home minister P. Chidambaram said, reciting lines from Gandhi’s favourite bhajan . While pleading with “Ishwar” or “Allah” to bless everyone with wisdom, he took care to omit the opening lines that refer to Ram and Sita.

The bhajan, a part of the Mahatma’s daily prayers, was sung by the thousands who joined the Dandi march. Its tune was composed by Vishnu Digambar Paluskar. The original hymn is about Ram, but it was tweaked into a secular version by Gandhians.

The same version, sung by Mohammad Rafi, played on several television channels today. Doordarshan telecast patriotic songs and Gandhi’s pictures, following these with the slogan “Yehi hamari pehchan hai (This alone is our identity)” and the song Bharat me hai vishwas (We have faith in India).

Television channels have been asked by the Centre not to run any news bulletins or pictures that could provoke communal passions.

Chidambaram usually does not go beyond a few words of Hindi, although he did recently speak at the Hindi Divas celebration organised by his ministry. Promotion of Hindi falls under the purview of the home ministry.

Today, he quoted the Hindi verse while making an appeal for peace after the Ayodhya verdict. “I would once again appeal to all sections of the people of the country to cooperate with the government and uphold the values that are dear to our country. I wish to conclude by quoting two lines from Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan,” he said, before reciting the lines without the musical intonation.

Chidambaram had earlier appealed for peace on September 22 when the verdict was expected on September 24.

The home minister often refers to the Mahatma in Parliament, especially when it comes to countering the BJP. During a debate in the Rajya Sabha last year, while quoting from Amartya Sen’s Idea of Justice, Chidambaram read out a reference to “Mohandas Gandhi” and then quickly added “Mahatma Gandhi”.

Today he said though the government does not foresee any trouble, it has kept security forces ready.