Kamal Nath called Mahatma Gandhi a global leader

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath said on Wednesday that India would perish if it did not walk on the path shown by Mahatma Gandhi.

Mahatma Gandhi was a global leader, he said, paying tributes to the father of the nation on his 150th birth anniversary.

"If our country does not walk on the way shown by Gandhi, then I have no hesitation in saying that both we and our culture would perish," Mr Nath said after garlanding a statue of the Mahatma at the Minto Hall.

"Mahatma Gandhi was not an Indian leader alone. He was a global leader," he said.

Earlier, Kamal Nath led a procession of Congress workers which started from Roshanpur Chowk at 8.25 am and proceeded to Minto Hall.

After addressing the function at Minto Hall, Mr Nath garlanded a statue of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri near the Vidhan Bhawan. October 2 is the birth anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri too.

Several processions, with participants reciting bhajans including Mahatma Gandhi's favourite ''Vaishnava Jana To'', were taken out across the state, said MP Congress spokesperson Bhupendra Gupta.