The Indian Weekender - Kiwi-Indian Hall of Fame Special - 07 October 2022

8
NEW ZEALAND
Homage paid to
Gandhi at iconic
statue site in
Wellington
Friday, 7 October, 2022
Read online www.iwk.co.nz
VENU MENON IN WELLINGTON
Braving inclement weather,
dignitaries and community
members gathered under a
tent to commemorate the 153rd birth
anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and paid
tribute to the apostle of non-violence in
the shadow of his statue in Wellington
on October 2.
The statue, that was installed outside
the Wellington Train Station in 2007,
was garlanded and flowers were placed
at its foot.
Welcoming the assembly, Indian High
Commission Charge d’Affairs Mukesh
Ghiya acknowledged the role of the
Wellington City Council in co-hosting the
event as well as the support extended
by universities, Indian community
associations and various charitable
groups.
The United Nations acknowledged the
relevance of Gandhi’s contribution by
declaring October 2 as an International
Day of Non-violence, Ghiya noted.
He recalled Gandhi’s call for peaceful
resistance against discrimination
and injustice at a public meeting in
Johannesburg in South Africa in 1906.
Satyagraha became a powerful tool
of civil disobedience and non-violent
resistance in India’s struggle for
Independence. It had a profound impact
on other political leaders such as Martin
Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela.
Ghiya referred to New Zealand Prime
Minister Jacinda Ardern’s tribute
to Gandhi at the recent UN General
Assembly. “For me, there are three
aspects of Gandhi’s message that carry
particular weight: tolerance, equality and
the sanctity of non-violence,” he quoted
Ardern as saying.
In 2007, then Governor General Anand
Satyanand joined Wellington Mayor
Kerry Prendergast and Indian High
Commissioner K.P. Ernest in unveiling
the bronze statue of Gandhi, made by
Indian sculptor Gautam Pal, which is now
an adored landmark of Wellington, Ghiya
added. Ghiya concluded his address
with a reference to the newly-appointed
Indian High Commissioner to New
Zealand, Ms Neeta Bhushan, who will be
presenting her credentials on October 4.
"Mayor
Andy Foster
invoked Gandhi’s
belief that “non-violence
is the greatest force at
the disposal of mankind.
“Mahatma Gandhi told us
that ‘You must be the
change that you wish
Mayor Andy Foster
invoked Gandhi’s
belief that “nonviolence
is the
greatest force at the
disposal of mankind.”
“Mahatma Gandhi
told us that ‘You must
be the change that you
wish to see in the world’,”
Foster added.
Former Governor General
Anand Satyanand highlighted the role
of then Indian High Commissioner
K. P. Ernest in installing the Gandhi
statue in Wellington City in 2007.
Anand, who originally hails from Fiji,
noted the absence of a Gandhi statue
in the Fijian capital of Suva, although Fiji
had more people of Indian origin than did
New Zealand. “[This] shows, I think, the
special privilege that we have as New
Zealanders in hosting the statue. I want
to say, however, that Gandhi is revered
in Fiji to a huge extent.”
Satyanand recounted how, in the
early 1900s, an indentured labourer
named Totaram Sanadhya secured his
freedom, went back to India and wrote
a cogent account of the treatment that
indentured labourers were subjected to.
This came to the attention of Gandhi,
who dispatched Reverend C F Andrews
to Fiji. Andrew’s report was instrumental
in introducing legislation in 1920 that
ended indenture permanently.
The former governor general hailed
“Gandhi’s espousal of education”.
Gandhi saw education as going beyond
mere literacy. He viewed it as the “all
round drawing out of the best in man,
women and child, in body and spirit,”
Satyanand said.
Deputy Prime Minister Grant
Robertson reminded the audience that
the cause of peace and justice remained
constantly under threat. He said the war
in Ukraine “challenges us all deeply to
uphold the spirit of peace and justice
for all who lived anywhere on our planet.
The Mahatma said war is not a morally
legitimate means of achieving anything
permanent.”
Robertson said, quizzically, that “this
week in New York, a quite remarkable
thing occurred. And that was that the
Mahatma spoke to the United Nations
General Assembly.” It was done via a
hologram, he explained. The hologram
was developed in India using artificial
intelligence (AI).
to see in the
world.”
Robertson underlined the importance
of incorporating Gandhi’s lessons
of peace and non-violence in school
education. Dean of Diplomatic Corps
Ahmad Salem Alwehaib described
Gandhi as an icon of peace. “We must
agree that peace was the foundation
of all cultures,” Alwehaib said. He
expressed his admiration for Prime
Minister Ardern as a role model of peace
and harmony in the aftermath of the
Christchurch mosque attack. He closed
with a quotation from the Quran: “We
have made you into nations and tribes
that you might know one another.”
Narendra Bhana, president of the NZ
Indian Central Association, noted that
Auckland was yet to succeed in installing
a Gandhi statue similar to that in
Wellington and requested Mayor Foster
to put in a word with his counterpart
in Auckland. Mahamandaleshwar
Paramhans Swami Maheshwananda
from Yoga in Daily Life emphasised the
oneness of humankind.
This was followed by a chanting of
Gandhi’s favourite Gayathri Mantra,
followed by a hymn, by Meena Ben
Bhagwan Das from Gayathri Parivar.
Delivering the vote of thanks,
Naginbhai Patel, founder and honorary
chairman of the Pujaya Mahatma Gandhi
Birthday Commemoration Committee of
New Zealand, traced the history, and his
role, in how Wellington got its Gandhi
statue. The dignitaries posed for a
photoshoot in front of the statue before
dispersing.