Nagaland’s Gandhi Ashram Observes First Death Anniversary of Veteran Gandhian Natwar Thakkar

Mokokchung, October 7, 2019:

Nagaland’s Gandhi Ashram observes Prayer Fellowship at veteran Gandhian, Natwar Thakkar’s Memorial to mark his first Death Anniversary today.

The Chuchuyimlang village in Nagaland’s Mokokchung district has come together to offer homage to Thakkar who passed away in 2018 at the age of 86.

Village Council Members, Church elders, members of the Gandhi Ashram, along with Thakkar’s relatives and friends had gathered at the memorial.

Natwar Thakkar was only twelve when the zeal for nation-building began to build in him. His inspiration Gandhiji and pursuing the Gandhian philosophy of life, a young Thakkar travelled from Maharashtra to Nagaland’s Chuchuyimlang village in 1955.

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The Padma Shri recipient’s aim was national integration and he had arrived in the small village to work towards the upliftment of the people. After spending ample time working and training the youth along Gandhian lines, Thakkar made Nagaland his home and married a Naga woman named Lentina. The couple actively took part in spreading the Gandhian philosophy of life.

Thakkar had undertaken several developmental programmes for the youth of Nagaland. The Nagaland Gandhi Ashram in Chuchuyimlang village in Mokokchung is one such example.

He had contributed to the overall socio-economic growth of the village people. Through Gandhi Ashram, he initiated several programmes to promote the ‘Khadi culture’. The Gandhian has, to his credit, the establishment of basic amenities in the village where he had settled more than six decades ago.

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Natwar Thakkar is one of the few non-Nagas who is admired across the state. He received the ‘Lifetime Service to Naga People Award’ in 2009 at Chuchuyimlang, Mokokchung, Nagaland, which was conferred by the association of native inhabitants of Chuchuyimlang village.

October 9 marks the birthday of the noble man. In order to mark the Nagaland’s Gandhi’s day, the Chuchuyimlang Village Council Chairman, Aao Sanenpongen declared it as ‘Noble Deeds Day’. It is expected that all the residents of the village will have to perform an act of kindness, however small it may be, and do something noble for the lesser privileged ones on the ‘Noble Deeds Day’.

This year will mark the veteran’s 87^th Birthday. A slew of events is scheduled for October 9, blood donation camp, public function and an eye camp are a few among them.

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