The 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi was celebrated by Egypt through the unveiling of a bust of Gandhi in Cairo’s al-Hurriya Park, and issuing a postage stamp on the occasion.
Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s Minister of State for Housing, Urban Affairs, Civil Aviation and Commerce and Industry, was in Cairo for the recent unveiling ceremony. He was joined by
General Muhammad Sultan on behalf of Cairo Governor Khaled Abdel-Aal; Rahul Kulshreshth, India’s Ambassador to Cairo; Muhammad Hegazi, Egypt’s former Ambassador to India; and a number members of the Indian community in Cairo.
The bronze bust was sculpted by Indian sculptor Ram Vanji Sutar.
The Indian Minister gave a word in which he expressed his gratitude to Cairo Governor, and said that Gandhi’s thoughts and philosophy of peaceful, non-violent resistance are still needed in our current times.
The Cairo celebration was held on the sideline of India Forum—which includes western Asia and Northern Africa—hosted in Cairo with participation of a large number of businessmen from Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan, and Southern of Sudan.
Mr Puri had earlier attended a celebration held by Egypt Post to launch, together with Egypt Post’s Chief Essam al-Sagheer and Ambassador Kulshreshth, an Egyptian postage stamp commemorating Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948) is famous as the spiritual leader of India’s independence movement that led to independence from the British in 1947. He pioneered Satyagraha, the concept of resisting tyranny through mass non-violent civil disobedience.
Watani International
10 November 2019