<span style="color: #222222;">Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has termed Mahatma Gandhi as  a great influencer in history who will continue to guide future generations for his extraordinary qualities. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Participating in the adjournment motion today in Parliament to pay respect to Mahatma on his 150th anniversary celebrations, Mr. Sirisena said Gandhiji has great skills in mobilising people and there are lots of lessons to be learnt from his life. He said a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi is displayed at the visiting room of his office in remembrance of the great leader.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Opening the debate this afternoon, Prime minister Ranil Wickremsinghe said ideals of  Gandhi is not only relevant to India but to the whole region including Sri Lanka. He said Martin Luther King also followed him in his own struggle. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Leader of opposition and Tamil MP R.A.Sampantham said minority Tamils would have achieved much more in their struggle, had they followed Gandhi's principle of non-violence.  Another Tamil MP Douglas Devananda  called for revival of villages in north and east as Gandhiji kept village at the centre of development.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Muslim MP Rauff Hakeem in his speech said Gandhi's multispirited and multidimensional activism still holds relevance in global politics.  He asserted that Indian constitution is shining example of Gandhi's ideas and beliefs . </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Several Parliamentarians paid their respect and spoke of his qualities and contribution to India's freedom struggle. Several programmes are being organized in Sri Lanka beginning this month to mark the 150th anniversary celebrations of 'Father of the Nation'. Indian cultural Centre in Colombo today screened the Oscar winning  movie 'Gandhi' based on his life.</span><br />''