Dear friends,

I’m given the opportunity to address you in my capacity as president of the college union. I would like to speak about a great Indian of the 20th century who is an inspiration to millions of leaders all over the world. I am sure you have already conjectured rightly that my reference is to Mahatma Gandhi. The epithet Mahatma is the most appropriate one for him because he is an iconic leader who won freedom from British rule using the harmless weapons of non – violence and non – cooperation. Truth was always his trump card. Sarvodaya – universal uplift was his vision as he strove hard for sociai and economic equality. He had the credibility to do it as he himself led a very simple life. He walked the talk. That is why to this day the Gandhian ideology has remained relevant. In fact, Gandhi’s simple living and high thinking, his focus on cottage industry, his call for non – violence are the ideals that we have to uphold now, in an age of consumerism and globalisation. Just as we say, ‘Go green,’ we should also say, ‘Go Gandhian.