Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi on Saturday paid tribute to father of the nation Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on his 152nd birth anniversary. He also slammed a counter trend being popularised by a section of Twitter praising Nathuram Godse who assassinated Gandhi, popularly known as the Mahatma.

“India has always been a spiritual superpower,but it is the Mahatma who articulated our nation’s spiritual underpinnings through his being & gave us a moral authority that remains our greatest strength even today. Those tweeting ‘Godse zindabad’ are irresponsibly shaming the nation,” Varun Gandhi said in his tweet.

He did not use any hashtag, but his post received close to 1,000 retweets and over 5,000 like within an hour on Gandhi Jayanti.

#नाथूराम_गोडसे_जिंदाबाद (Nathuram Godse Zindabad) is among the top trends on Twitter on Saturday. Though this may come as a surprise for many Twitter users, the micro-blogging website has an algorithm which enables a particular topic to trend.

Twitter has said that the trends is served to users based on a combination of factors, including the geographical location, their interests and the handles they follow. But the trends tab – from where Varun Gandhi picked up the Godse trend – is based on the number of tweets being posted on a particular topic, or name. This tab is not customised for a user.

“This algorithm identifies topics that are popular now, rather than topics that have been popular for a while or on a daily basis, to help you discover the hottest emerging topics of discussion on Twitter,” the micro-blogging website said in an explainer.

Though it said that the number of tweets that are related to the Trends is just one of the factors the algorithm looks at when ranking and determining trends, experts have pointed that Twitter’s algorithm records spikes based on the number of tweets on a particular topic.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi. PM Modi paid floral tributes to the father of nation at Rajghat.

Several Union ministers and other political leaders also paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi. Union home minister Amit Shah said Gandhi’s ideas of Swadeshi, Swabhasha and Swaraj will continue to inspire the countrymen for a long time.

“The great life of Mahatma Gandhi was like a continuous national sacrifice, which inspired the whole world to walk on the path of peace and non-violence. Gandhiji’s ideas of Swadeshi, Swabhasha and Swaraj will continue to inspire the countrymen for a long time. Tribute to him on Gandhi Jayanti,” Shah tweeted.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh said, “I bow to Pujya Bapu on Gandhi Jayanti. A towering personality blessed with tremendous willpower and immense wisdom, he provided exemplary leadership to India’s freedom movement. Let us rededicate ourselves to ‘Swachchta and Atmanirbharbharta’ on his jayanti.”

Born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar town of Gujarat, Mahatma Gandhi or Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi adopted a non-violent resistance and was at the forefront of the freedom struggle against the colonial British rule.

This led to India finally achieving its independence in 1947. Fondly known as Bapu, his unwavering belief in ‘Swaraj’ (self-governance) and ‘Ahimsa’ (non-violence) won him accolades across the world.

Globally, Gandhi’s birth anniversary is celebrated as the International Day of Non-Violence. Several events are held in India and across the world to mark the occasion.