New Delhi, Jan. 30 -- Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said Mahatma Gandhi is not just a person, but a way of thinking that an empire, an ideology of hatred and arrogance of power unsuccessfully tried to erase at different points in time.

Terming Mahatma Gandhi the "immortal soul of India", the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha paid tributes to the Father of the Nation on his death anniversary, saying that along with Independence, he gave the nation a fundamental principle that the power of truth is greater than the power of authority.

"Mahatma Gandhi is not just a person, but a way of thinking that an empire, an ideology of hatred, and an arrogance of power have all unsuccessfully tried

to erase at different points in time," he said in a post in Hindi on X.

"The Father of the Nation gave us, along with Independence, the fundamental principle that the power of truth is greater than the power of authority and that non-violence and courage are greater than violence and fear," Rahul Gandhi said.

This way of thinking cannot be extinguished, because Gandhi is immortal in the soul of India, he added.

Rahul Gandhi also paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Gandhi Smriti at Tees January Marg here on Martyrs' Day, remembering the life and sacrifice of the Father of the Nation.

"His legacy of truth, courage, and compassion continues to guide our path and remind us of an India we must keep striving for -- just, harmonious, and united," the former Congress chief said in a Facebook post.

Sharing lines of a Bhajan that Mahatma Gandhi used to sing, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "The hatred that separated us from Bapu, its solution also lies in Bapu's path. The light of truth, the power of non-violence, and the compassion of love. Homage to the Father of the Nation on Martyr's Day."

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also paid tributes to

Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary.

Party general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, recalled two separate letters written by Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in 1948 to Syama Prasad Mookerjee, in which they strongly criticised and raised questions on the activities of the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS.

"Both are damning indictments of the self-declared custodians of nationalism. And to think that there is a Lok Sabha MP wedded to that ideology and who was blessed by the PM himself, who said that he could not choose between Gandhi and Godse. His mindset is revealing," Ramesh said on X, in an apparent reference to BJP MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay's controversial remarks in 2024.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.