The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that Mahatma Gandhiji’s Ramrajya will remain incomplete without development of villages and most of our population lives in villages and it is very important to pay special attention to their upliftment. He was addressing the inaugural session of 106th Bihar Diwas Celebrations and closing ceremony of Champaran Satyagrah: Centenary Year, in Patna, Bihar today. The Governor of Bihar, Shri Satya Pal Malik, the Chief Minister, Shri Nitish Kumar, the Deputy Chief Minister, Shri Sushil Kumar Modi and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.The Vice President said that Bihar has glorious history in terms of culture and tradition. He recollected his young days and said that he was extremely impressed with the ideology of Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan. He further said that Champaran has the special place in the history because of its association with Mahatma Gandhi.
Gandhiji started his non-violent resistance against unjust rule from the place as a powerful strategy for the freedom struggle, Satyagraha originated from the holy land of Bihar, he added.The Vice President said that Gandhiji's experiments in Champaran enlightened the whole nation, One, finding the Truth, second - improving lives of ordinary people and building trust in public and third - continued efforts to achieve freedom.The Vice President said that discrimination based on caste, untouchability, corruption, oppression of women, the ill effects of black money, are stigmatizing our society even after 70 years of independence. He further said that apart from this, differences in rural urban states, socio-economic inequalities are increasing. Mahatma Gandhi gave a message to remove the evils of child marriage and dowry practices for the honour of women and also argued against use of alcohol and called for prohibition, he added.