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President Pratibha Patil joins Gandhiji’s admirers in Mexico square

— Photos: PTI/ AFP

President Pratibha Patil addressing a function at the Mahatma Gandhi monument in Mexico City on Friday.

Mexico City: Even as President Pratibha Patil paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at the Chapultepec Square here on Friday Leftist legislators, protesting an energy reforms bill, displayed huge posters of the Mahatma inside the Mexican Parliament to mark their protest.

While paying tributes at the Mahatma’s monument, Ms. Patil had said although he was born in India, Gandhiji belonged to the world. “His principles of truth and non-violence transcend time and regional boundaries. As appropriate in India as they are in Mexico, his principles are a source of inspiration to the weak and the powerless.”

Dressed in a ‘khadi’ silk saree, the President cheerfully mixed with the students of the Colegio Gandhi Eloisa Romea and acknowledged artistes of the Ora World Mandala Theatre For Reconciliation Through Art.

Expressing her happiness at seeing children among the audience (waving Indian flags), she said the future belonged to them.

It was the responsibility of adults to inculcate in them the values of tolerance and compassion.

Referring to the decision of the United Nations last year to declare Gandhiji’s birth anniversary as the International Day of Non-Violence, she said it was an acknowledgement of the universality and the need for adherence to the path of peace, truth and tolerance.

Ms. Patil visits the Basilica de Guadalupe.

The artists of the Theatre soulfully sang “Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram,” Gandhiji’s favourite hymn as several in the audience joined them.

Earlier, Indian Ambassador Rinzing Wangde said the first visit by an Indian President to Mexico marked an important turning point in India-Mexico relationship.

Speaking to The Hindu, Vice-Principal of the Colegio Gandhi Eloisa Romea said the children who passed out of the school carried Gandhian values of peace and non-violence with them throughout their life. “They practice his values on a daily basis.”

Karen Chufani, the school’s English Coordinator, said a simple gesture of showering rose petals on the Mahatma’s statue — “which is part of your culture” — impressed students and raised in them a curiosity about this apostle of peace.

Ms. Patil, who will be in Mexico till Sunday, also visited the pyramids at Teotihuacan, the Basilica de Guadalupe and the pre-Hispanic National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.

In her brief interaction with accompanying journalists, she said she was impressed with “the meticulous town, urban planning and architecture of the past.”

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President Pratibha Patil joins Gandhiji’s admirers in Mexico square

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