After the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) thumping victory in Punjab Assembly elections and months before Gujarat goes to the polls, party leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann on Saturday visited Sabarmati Ashram here as part of their two-day visit to the city, and paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.
Kejriwal, who is Delhi chief minister and AAP's national convener, and Mann, who took oath as Punjab chief minister last month, together visited Hriday Kunj, a place inside the ashram premises, where Mahatma Gandhi used to live.
Their visit to the state is being viewed as an attempt to prepare the groundwork for the party in the state, where Assembly polls are scheduled to be held by the end of this year. AAP registered a historic win in Punjab Assembly polls last month by bagging a three-fourths majority with 92 seats.
The two leaders are scheduled to hold a two-km roadshow in the city on Saturday.
During their Gandhi Ashram visit, the two leaders tried their hands on 'charkha,' (spinning wheel), paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at his statue, and were given a guided tour of the museum.
In the visitors' book, Kejriwal said he felt blessed to be born in a country, where Gandhiji took birth.
"This ashram is a spiritual place. It seems as if Gandhiji's soul resides here. Coming here gives a spiritual feeling. I consider myself blessed that I was born in the country in which Gandhiji was born," Kejriwal wrote in the visitors' diary.
Talking to reporters later, he said that although this was his first visit to the ashram after becoming the chief minister of Delhi, he has visited the place several times in the past as an "activist".
"I have visited the ashram several times in the past, and every time I visit, I feel peaceful and as if the soul of Gandhiji resides here," he said.
Mann wrote in the diary, "Today, while visiting Gandhi Ashram, got to see many things that were used during the freedom struggle of the country, such as Gandhi's handwritten letter, original spinning wheel, and many other things related to his life."
"Today, while living in a free country, we have to remember the sacrifice of those fellow revolutionaries," he added.
Mann later told reporters that he comes from the land of martyrs, and in every village there are people who have fought for the country's freedom.
He said that nearly every household in Punjab has charkha on which women spin yarn while humming traditional songs.
"I come from a land of shaheeds like Lala Lajpat Rai, Madanlal Dhingra, Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, Kartar Singh Sarabha. In every village, you will find the 'parvane' who sacrificed their lives for India's freedom," he told reporters.
"Visiting this ashram, I got to see many things like Gandhiji's hand-written letters, and learnt about various other objects used in revolution. About charkha, I was saying that there is charkha in nearly every household in Punjab. Ladies sing cultural songs while spinning yarn," he further said.
"Here, I saw the original charkha and how he promoted indigenous objects, which are today being promoted differently. We are nationalists who love the country. I have visited Gujarat for the first time after becoming a chief minister. I believe that the people of Gujarat are very 'inqualibi' (revolutionary), and I am hopeful they will make a big contribution in the progress of the country," Mann said.
Kejriwal refused to take political questions from the media, saying that this is a "pious place of Gandhi".
Kejriwal and Mann will jointly hold a two-km roadshow - 'Tiranga Yatra' - in the city on Saturday, and offer prayers at a temple on Sunday.