A statue of Mahatma Gandhi has been unveiled today at the Chancery of the High Commission of India in Lilongwe.
The statue has been unveiled on the occasion of the 151st Anniversary celebrations of Gandhi Jayanti at the Chancery of the High Commission of India in Lilongwe.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Eisenhower Mkaka and High Commissioner of Republic of India to Malawi Shri Anurag Bhushan unveiled the statue.
The statue was initially supposed to be erected in Blantyre in 2018 but activists stopped the project through an injunction arguing that Gandhi was racist.
Speaking during the event, Malawi’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mkaka stated that there is a need for people to accept the human nature of Gandhi which had faults and errors as any other human.
He encouraged all to appreciate Mahatma Gandhi as a global icon who set the ball rolling for emancipation from the colonial struggle.
Mkaka noted that Mahatma Gandhi believed in contact and dialogue in the same way late His Excellency Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda’s did. He further indicated that His Excellency the President, Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, has inherited this revere principle of “contact and dialogue” as a centerpiece of his foreign policy and international diplomacy.
The Minister emphasized that Malawi will use the peaceful character of Gandhi to continue participating in the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to instill stability in the SADC region. He further expressed his anticipation for countries in the SADC region to create a conducive business environment to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
In his closing remarks, the Minister acknowledged the relationship between Malawi and India. He commended India for its efforts of concretizing on cooperation in the defense and security sector through hosting the 1st India-Africa Defense Ministers Conclave in February 2020.
In his remarks, Bhushan, the Indian High Commissioner, described the life of Gandhi as “A story of heroic afford”. He stated that Gandhi created an atmosphere of peaceful, blood-less emancipation throughout Asia and Africa which made him to belong to the whole world, as his noble ideas motivated millions of people across the world.
The unveiling of the Mahatma Gandhi statue comes on the birthday of the world icon and political leader who was born on 2nd October 1869.
