Sushma Swaraj who is on her 5-day visit to South Africa travelled in a train from Pentrich to Pietermaritzburg, the South African railway station where a young Gandhi was thrown out of a “Whites Only” compartment 125 years ago. This incident had acted as a catalyst for Gandhiji’s Satyagraha mode of protest.
The “Birth of Satyagraha” bust was also inaugurated by Sushma Swaraj. The bust features the young Gandhi and the old Gandhi back to back. The Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Ravish Kumar tweeted that the bust acted as a constant reminder, to all of the mankind, of the momentous moral journey that Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi had taken.
See also:Sushma Swaraj and South African President discuss strengthening of bilateral ties.
Adressing an event Sushma Swaraj said,”To practice this belief of ‘Vasudeva kudumbakam’ (the world is one family) we need to keep reminding us that Truth and Non-violence is the way,”.External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted,”125th anniversary of the Pietermaritzburg incident, 100th Birth Centenary of Madiba (Nelson Mandela) and 25 years of the diplomatic relations. It couldn’t get bigger” while acknowledging the importance of Pentrich-Pietermaritzburg incident which acted as a catalyst for Mahatma Gandhi to practice Satyagraha.
It was on the night of June 7, 1893, that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a young lawyer at that time was thrown out of train’s first class compartment at Pietermaritzburg station for refusing to give up his seat. The incident made him able to develop his Satyagraha principles of peaceful resistance and mobilize people in South Africa and India against the British discrimination.
The Mahatma Gandhi Digital Museum containing interactive screens, videos, audio commentary on the infamous Pietermaritzburg incident, was also inaugurated by Sushma Swaraj. A coffee table book titled ‘The Birth of Satyagraha’ was also released by Sushma
Swaraj to mark 12the 5th anniversary of the railway station incident.
Postal stamps on Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Oliver Tambo were jointly released by Sushma Swaraj along with Deputy Foreign Minister of South Africa Luwellyn Landers, to mark 25 years of India-South Africa diplomatic relations.
Tambo was an anti-apartheid revolutionary and South African politician who held the position as President of African National Congress from 1967 to 1991. Upadhyaya was an Indian Thinker, who founded the idea of Anthyodhaya, also co-founded Bhartiya Jana Sangh(BJP’s pre decessor).
An essay writing competition on the question “What was the Turning Point Moment in Your Life?” was conducted for 20 diaspora youth from Africa and 5 from India. Sushma Swaraj felicitated the winners.
Gandhiji’s main entry to India was in 1915, though he had come in 1901 to attend a Congress Meeting. Gandhi spent 21 years in South Africa.
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