The Hindu : Front Page : World Peace Gong inaugurated on Satyagraha centenary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 12, 2006
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World Peace Gong inaugurated on Satyagraha centenary

It bears the national flags of all United Nations member countries and symbols of prominent religions of the world

PHOTOS: THE HINDU ARCHIVES & AFP

SATYAGRAHA CENTENARY: Satyagraha, Gandhiji's celebrated technique of non-violent struggle, was born in South Africa a hundred years ago. The photograph of the future Mahatma was taken circa 1899.

NEW DELHI: The World Peace Gong — a symbol of brotherhood, peace and nature — was inaugurated on Monday at the Gandhi Smriti Centre to commemorate the centenary of Gandhiji's first Satyagraha.

Presented by the Multi-Cultural Society of Indonesia, the large gong bears the national flags of all United Nations member countries and symbols of prominent religions of the world.

South Africa's Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka pays tribute at Rajghat on Monday.

In her opening address, Mahatma Gandhi's great grand-daughter Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee said: "The spirit of Satyagraha lies latent in all of us. We need to evoke it. The resounding gong would keep reminding us of this fact."

Savita Singh, Director, Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, said the gong would lead people from darkness to light.

Classical singer Shubha Mudgal rendered popular hymns to mark the occasion.

`Think of Gandhi on 9/11'

PHOTO: R.V. MOORTHY, PTI

THE PEACE DRUM: Singer Shuba Mudgal sounding the World Peace Gong installed at the Gandhi Smriti in New Delhi on Monday to mark the centenary of the `Satyagraha.' The gong was gifted by the Multi-Cultural Society of Indonesia.

The world should observe 9/11 commemorating Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha, launched a hundred years ago, instead of remembering the terror strikes on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people, South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said here on Monday.

She was delivering a lecture organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs in memory of South African leader Alfred Nzo.

Recalling the Satyagraha launched in South Africa on September 11, 1906, Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka, who is on a four-day visit to India, said Gandhi's philosophy of peace and non-violence had great power to resolve ongoing conflicts in today's world.

She said the centenary of the birth of Satyagraha would be celebrated in South Africa with great respect and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would participate in it.

Seek non-violent solutions

Tara Gandhi, great grand-daughter of Mahatma Gandhi, presents a photograph of the Father of the Nation to the Indonesian delegation on the occasion.

Stating that South Africa's struggle for liberation was shaped by Gandhi's philosophy of peace and non-violence, Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka said the world must seek non-violent solutions to various problems.

She said India was a strategic partner of South Africa and both the countries were bound by historic relations.

``Our relationship has been so intense with India,'' she said. — PTI

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