Safekeeping of Bapu's legacy: Twitter unveils a 'Gandhi emoji'

Safekeeping Gandhi's legacy

Twitter has unveiled a ‘Gandhi emoji’ that users around the world can use in their tweets to celebrate Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary. Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially launched the emoji on Twitter, the firm said in a statement. The emoji will be available till October 8, 2018, it added. However, the real coup was a Congress leader securing the @gandhi Twitter handle. Congress social media chief Divya Spandana figured out some days back that the @gandhi Twitter handle, surprisingly enough, was free. She was prompt to secure it for the Congress party. The Twitter handle bio states: “The life of Mahatma Gandhi: Human being, lover of mankind, advocate of Ahimsa”. It debuted on Twitter some days back, in September, but started tweeting on Gandhi's birth anniversary on Tuesday. The Congress plans to use the Twitter handle to spread awareness about Gandhi’s life to counter what it views are “attempts at appropriating Gandhi’s legacy” by the Modi government.

A tribute to the Mahatma

As part of the birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi, artistes from over 124 countries have contributed musically to pay homage to the Mahatma through his favourite bhajan Vaishnava jana to, tene kahiye je. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj launched a medley version of the bhajan by artistes from over 40 countries. Indian missions abroad identified local artistes' groups to record the bhajan in the run-up to Gandhi Jayanti. Prominent local singers from Armenia, Angola, Sri Lanka, Serbia and even Iraq and Iceland have recorded the hymn. Among the star performers is President Baron Divavesi Waqa of Nauru. It also features Pakistani singer Shafqat Amanat Ali.