Odisha CM pays tribute to Mahatma Gandhi in Rome

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Tuesday paid floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Statue at the Piazza Gandhi, a statement issued by the state government said.

After offering his tribute, Patnaik said he was inspired by the ideals and principles of Mahatma Gandhi. Patnaik is known for spreading the messages of the Mahatma in the state and the country. During the first meeting of the National Committee for the commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in 2018, he had proposed that the greatest tribute India could pay Gandhiji was to include the uniquely Indian ideal of "Ahimsa", or non-violence, in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.

Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, Patnaik had said that there can be no progress without peace.

In 2019, Patnaik unveiled the Gandhiji Talisman at Lok Seva Bhawan in Bhubaneswar. "This will inspire all to work selflessly for the cause of the poorest of the poor," he had said at that time. During his second official foreign tour in his 22-year-reign, the Odisha chief minister will also visit Vatican City and Dubai. He met India's Ambassador to Italy, Neena Malhotra, after reaching Rome as part of his 11-day foreign trip on Monday. The chief minister is visiting Rome at the invitation of the World Food Program (WFP) and would be sharing the transformative initiatives of Odisha in the field of food security and disaster management.

He will meet the Executive Director of WFP David Beasley and the senior leadership of WFP and have detailed discussions on Odisha's partnership with WFP and future projects, which will further help the state in ensuring food security in a sustainable manner.

During his stay in Rome, Patnaik will meet Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, in Vatican City.

On his way back from Rome, Patnaik will meet potential investors from across West Asia in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. He will invite them to invest in Odisha. Patnaik's last foreign trip as the Chief Minister was to the United Kingdom in May 2012.

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