Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad lights the inaugural lamp as Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi looks on in Guwahati on Monday. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, Jan. 30: Ghulam Nabi Azad, the president of the Gandhi Global Family, today declared Assam the only state in the country, which has the fourth generation of Gandhi followers.

Addressing a massive function organised by the organisation in association with the Assam government here to commemorate the 65th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Azad said the Father of the Nation had a special connection with Assam and visited the state four times during the freedom struggle.

“Right from the state’s first chief minister Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi, Assam now has the young generation, in their early thirties, who are following Gandhi’s ideals and initiating various welfare schemes according to his principles. The state now has the fourth generation of Gandhi followers,” said Azad, who is also the Union health minister.

He said Gandhi visited Assam in 1921, 1926, 1936 and 1946 and the state had a special place in his heart.

“When the Congress session was held at Pandu in Guwahati in 1926, the entire pandal was made of khadi, which Gandhi liked very much. It was from this session in Guwahati that Gandhi began promoting khadi and also set up the Kasturba Gandhi Ashram. Gandhi always wanted to stay in and around the poor and underprivileged people and that is why he choose Sarania hill in Guwahati to stay whenever he visited Assam,” Azad said.

The Union minister, himself an ardent follower of the leader, said Gandhi’s relevance is greater in present day society and his formula of non-violence is the solution to the restlessness, violence and hatred prevalent now.

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi said though society has made tremendous progress in the fields of science and technology, the relevance of Gandhi could not be undermined under any circumstance.

He said the movement to win hearts through the path of non-violence and tolerance would never be obsolete for the years to come.

“Insurgency in Assam is waning and militant organisations have realised the futility of violence. Militants who are yet to come overground must be inspired by Gandhi’s philosophy,” Gogoi said.

He announced the setting up of the Mahatma Gandhi Skill Development Centre in the state to equip the younger generation with job skills to end unemployment.