Ms Sonia Gandhi in United Nation

United Nations, October 2: As the UN marked Mahatma Gandhi's birthday as the first International Day of Non-violence, Congress president Sonia Gandhi spoke Tuesday of the international community's "collective failure" to move towards comprehensive universal disarmament.

She also referred to the "disturbing emergence" of non-state players in the spread of terrorism.
"It is not the relevance of Mahatma Gandhi that is in question today.... It is whether we have the courage to emulate his preachings and what he lived and died for," she said in an address to the United Nations General Assembly.

She was heard in rapt attention by leaders from different nations and her son Rahul Gandhi, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his deputy Anand Sharma.

She said the world was facing violence of various kinds and there had been a collective failure of the international community in tackling terrorism and checking nuclear proliferation.
The chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) also had a word of caution for representatives from across the world, asking them not to make Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary another annual ritual.

"Fallacies" about non-violence abound, Gandhi said, while rejecting the contention by some that non-violence was a sign of weakness or cowardice.Nothing could be further from the truth," she told sceptics, adding that non-violence went far beyond passive resistance or even civil disobedience.

"To practice it in its true spirit demands a strict discipline of mind: the courage to face aggression, the moral conviction to stay the course, and the strength to do so without harbouring any malice towards the opponent," she told the 192-member General Assembly.
At the heart of Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy

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