Fortunate to unveil two Mahatma statues on Central Asian visit: Modi

He said the world is facing twin challenges of terrorism and climate change and Mahatma Gandhi alone shows us how to deal with both

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday unveiled a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Kyrgyzstan capital and said he showed the world a non-violent way to effect change.

Modi said though it was his first visit to Central Asia, he was fortunate to unveil statues of Mahatma Gandhi in two countries.

On Saturday, Modi had unveiled a bust of Gandhi at a traditional medicine and yoga centre in Turkmenistan capital Ashgabat.

He said the world today was facing two big challenges of terrorism and climate change and "Mahatma Gandhi alone shows us how to deal with both".

Modi later tweeted that he was "happy to see the enthusiasm during inauguration of Gandhi ji's bust. Several people from Indian community, mostly young students joined".

"Our nations, Kyrgyzstan and India, are connected by geography, history and culture. Non violence and dialogue are the ways ahead. Violence is no solution and Mahatma Gandhi has demonstrated that," he said.

"Violence has not done any good for anyone. Look back at history, violence has never brought satisfaction to anyone. It was Mahatma Gandhi who has shown a way to mitigate these two menaces, terror and climate change," he said.

"Everybody desires freedom but here was a person who showed the way through non-violence, Satyagraha," Modi said.

Earlier, accompanied by Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister Temir Sariyev, Modi inaugurated a tele-link between Osh city, Bishkek and AIIMS and Apollo Hospitals of New Delhi.

He also watched doctors of the two sides interacting through the tele-link at the National Centre for Cardiology and Internal Medicine in Bishkek.

Modi also visted the Kyrgyz-India Mountain Biomedical Research Centre and interacted with scientists at Tuya Ashu pass via video conference.