US lawmakers pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi

MAHATMA GANDHI’S life and thoughts inspired people across the globe and ‘changed the course of human history’, US lawmakers have said as they paid glowing tributes to the global peace icon on the occasion of his 151st birth anniversary.

‘There are a very few human beings that ever walked this far...Mahatma Gandhi is such a man who made a difference not only in India but around the world and it was his leadership, his thoughts, his actions that inspired Dr Martin Luther King,’ Congressman Gregory Meeks said on Friday.

An influential Democratic Congressman from New York, Meeks is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and part of the powerful Black Caucus of the powerful Black Caucus.

He paid floral tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Gandhi Plaza, in front of the Indian Embassy in downtown Washington DC.

Meeks said he knows the influence that Mahatma Gandhi had. Because of him, African-Americans across the US are in places of power, he said.

In a video message, Congressman Tom Souzzi said Mahatma Gandhi changed the ‘course of human history’.

‘So many people were inspired by his actions. But when we think about his life, he had to go through so much. Think of the times that he was beaten, but he was mistreated in prison, his fasting almost to the point of starvation. All of these struggles on a journey to change life in India and change life throughout the world,’ he said.

Congressman Pete Olson said Gandhi was the true visionary for peace.

‘Gandhi witnessed justice against his fellow countrymen in India, under British rule and chose to change it. He became the leader of India’s nonviolent independence movement to end it British rule once and for forever,’ he said in his video message that was broadcast during a virtual event hosted by the Indian Embassy here.

Gandhiji employed nonviolent resistance to achieve India’s independence from Great Britain, said Congressman Ted Yoho.

‘His philosophy inspired many, including Dr Martin Luther King’s peaceful protests that led to our nation’s civil rights legislation of the 1960s. His legacy lives on in the hearts and minds of millions around the world in the pursuit of civil rights, peace and understanding,’ he said.

‘I think it’s important to remember that while Gandhi maintained a steadfast commitment to nonviolent means to achieve change, he never lost sight of the goal of having an India for Indians and working to create a world with less hate violence and oppression,’ Yoho said.

Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick said Gandhi inspired civil rights movements around the world and taught the value of civil disobedience and nonviolent protest.

‘Gandhi valiantly fought for religious freedom and encouraged individual and community self-improvement. His work has had a lasting impact on our own nation and our own values. Gandhi believed that the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others,’ he said.