The Indian Embassy and expatriates in Riyadh paid rich tributes to ‘Father of the Nation’ Mahatma Gandhi on his 145th birth anniversary on Oct. 2 (Thursday), known as Gandhi Jayanti in India.

Paying homage, the embassy took a pledge to realize his dream of a clean India by 2019, when the country will observe his 150th birth anniversary.

“To celebrate the birth anniversary of the father of the nation and to participate in the nationwide mass cleanliness drive launched in New Delhi, the officials of the embassy of India in Riyadh undertook the pledge for “clean India” campaign in the embassy premises on Thursday,” an embassy official said.

Launched on Thursday, the campaign will last a span of five years to realize Gandhi’s dream of a clean India by 2019 to mark his 150th birth anniversary with a rich tribute.

The official further said that the campaign to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi has been organized with the participation of all sections of Indian society to bring about mass awareness and lasting behavioral change.

The Indian expatriates in Riyadh welcomed the campaign to help clean public places in the country.

However, they pointed out that Mahatma Gandhi is revered throughout the world for his wisdom of non-violence, whereas sectarian violence has become the order of the day as divisive politicians are spitting venom for narrow political gains in various parts of the country and very sadly, they belong to the ruling party BJP.

The violence against women like rape incidences have also increased which is a disgrace, they said.

Mohammed Quaiser, president Tanzeem Hum Hindustani, a voluntary organization of overseas Indians in the Kingdom said, “Mahatma Gandhi is mostly remembered for his philosophy of non-violence as a tool for peaceful resolution of differences among various sections of society.”

Quoting Gandhi, he said: “Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind and mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.” Quaiser asserted that it would have been ideal to launch a comprehensive campaign to clean the filth in the thinking of mankind rather than the places in the country.

Echoing the sentiment Akhtar-ul-Islam Siddiqui, president of Middle East NRIs Association said that the government is making a good move to make India a clean place, but “a person of clean image is more important to make a healthy society free of all violence and differences.”

He added that in such a fragile situation marked by the grim irony of divisive politics like ‘love jihad’ and other hatred campaigns to disturb communal harmony like banishing Muslims from joining the Hindu festivals and instigating sectarian violence, “it would have been better for the Government of India to adopt the United Nations’ International Day of Non-Violence on Oct. 2, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, a global observance that seeks to promote the vital quality of non-violence and say that we will end all forms of violence by 2019 to mark the 150th birth anniversary of the father of the nation.”