Ex-Zambian premier Kenneth Kaunda stole the thunder at the two-day centeneray celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi’s satyagraha.
NEW DELHI: Former Zambian premier Kenneth Kaunda stole the thunder at the opening session of the two-day international conference commemorating the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi’s satyagraha. Kaunda called on the US and Britain to leave Iraq and Afghanistan and made it clear that the root cause of unrest in the middle east was the denial of legitimate Palestinian claims to a state of their own.
Judging by the rapturous applause to his speech from the audience and the bevy of leaders seated present at the conference Kaunda, appeared to be echoing popular sentiment. Congress President Sonia Gandhi clapped enthusiastically while the Minister of Sports Manishankar Aiyer stood up to clap while others joined the applause.
The two-day conference is being attended by several top-notch leaders including the President of Maldives Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the President of Slovenia and the Prime Minister of Mauritious , Nobel laureates, Professor Mohammed Yunus of Bangladesh, former Polish president Lech Walesa and Kaunda himself. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Asma Jehangir, human rights activist from Pakistan, were also present. Prominent amongst those representing the Congress party was MP from Amethi Rahul Gandhi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will deliver the valedictory address on Tuesday.
The two international conferences has been organised by the Congress ostensibly to commemorate the centenary of the Mahatma’s satyagraha. However most political observers believe it’s an attempt by the party to cash in on the renewed interest in the Mahatma.
The Congress also tried to paper over the contradictions in the country going Nuclear with Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals of nuclear disarmament by maintaining that it was done for “strategic reasons”. Inaugurating the conference Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that the reason to go nuclear stemmed from the “country’s failure to persuade the world to abolish nuclear weapons, but we are committed to carrying forward our commitment to comprehensive, universal nuclear disarmament.”
Sonia made a strong pitch for Gandhism in the face of the challenges posed by terrorism and extremism. “It would be a grave threat to write off the Gandhian approach. The challenge is to find creative inspiration and evolve a satyragraha appropriate to our times,” she said.
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