| Corporators pass proposal requesting Centre to grant official 'Father of the Nation' status to Gandhi and that of 'Mahatma' to Jyotirao Phule Siddharth Gadkari Posted On Thursday, August 23, 2012 at 08:22:25 AM |  |  | | RTI queries had earlier revealed both icons have no official records conferring popular titles on them | Far from passing proposals to further progress in the city, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) corporators seem to have shifted focus to titular confusions.
PMC passed a proposal to give 'Father of the Nation' status to Mahatma Gandhi in their general body meeting on on Wednesday evening, petitioning the Central and State governments to make the title official.
It also passed a proposal to make the 'Mahatma' status official for 19th century reformer Jyotirao Phule.
The unusual request came after Aishwarya Parashar, a Class VI student, sent an RTI application to the Central Public Information Officer of the Prime Minister's Office in February this year, seeking a photocopy of the order through which Mahatma Gandhi was officially declared 'Father of the Nation'.
However, the National Archives of India (NAI) replied to the child saying no specific documents were available in this regard.
The proposal in PMC was submitted by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP corporators Ravindra Malvadkar and Anil Tingre, as well as Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) corporator Dhanjay Jadhav. It said, "The Centre has no records about Gandhi's 'Father of the Nation' status.
He made the most important contribution to our freedom struggle and showed the path of non-violence to the world. It is a painful thing that we have no records to honour him."
It added, "We must compensate for this mistake. The Central government should make official records in a government document. The PMC general body is requesting the State and Centre for the same."
The General Body passed a similar proposal regarding giving the 'Mahatma' status to Jyotiba Phule. The same three corporators submitted the proposal.
Jyotirao Phule was a social reformer in Maharashtra in the 19th century, who revolted against the unjust caste system and fought for women's rights, women's education and widow marriages.
The State government told Chinchwad-based Ramdas Jangam after he made an RTI enquiry that the government does not have any records about conferring 'Mahatma' status to Phule. | |
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