Kochi: At a time when the ruling dispensation wants to overshadow the Gandhian way of politics using all of its machinery, the people have to become the representatives of the ideas the Mahatma upheld, eminent environmentalist Medha Patkar said in Kochi on Sunday.

Patkar was speaking at a seminar organised by the District Congress Committee and the Sabarmati Study and Research Centre as part of the centenary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi becoming the president of the Indian National Congress.

"As we become the representatives of the Gandhian politics, we have to wipe out the ideas that stand obstructing it. The politics of hatred and corruption could be resisted only with truth. Gandhi was one who kept the truth close to his heart. Today, concerted attempts are on to hide the history of India from the light of truth," Patkar, the champion of the 'Narmada Bachao Andolan' movement, said.

"Gandhi had the ability to identify the problems of people from different sections of society and highlight them. His humanity is based on his firm voice for such people. Gandhi is also an example of how religious people can promote humanitarian politics by upholding human values.

"Sangh Parivar's politics pollutes the Gandhian politics of truth and justice. Braving it, Gandhian values still exist today. Rahul Gandhi walked towards the essence of Gandhian politics by hearing about the problems of the people on the street and holding them together," Patkar said, referring to the Congress leader's Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.

Patkar also called for an environment-centric approach in administration in the wake of recurring natural calamities in Kerala, including the recent landslides in Wayanad. District Congress Committee president Muhammed Shiyas and environmentalists C R Neelakanan and K Sahadevan spoke at the seminar.

The DCC's celebrations titled 'Gandhian Congress@100' started on Saturday with marches from Ernakulam old railway station and Maharaja's College. Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan inaugurated the exhibition arranged as part of the celebrations at Rajendra Maidan.

Satheesan said Mahatma Gandhi is the name of an ideology that has passed the test of time. He said no matter how hard the Sangh Parivar tried, it could not overshadow the sunlight that was Gandhi.