By IANS
London : A set of rare handwritten letters and manuscripts, and a unique photographic exhibition at the India House here were the highlights of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary celebrations here.
The letters and manuscripts written by Gandhi between the 1920s and the 1940s were donated to the government of India by Tom Tar Singh, an entrepreneur of Indian origin. They were acquired earlier this year at a public auction conducted at Sotheby’s.
The collection includes a draft with revisions of a series of articles for “Young India” discussing a range of political and cultural subjects. Also included was hand-written correspondence between Gandhi and others, including Badrul Hasan (about Gandhi’s campaigns) and Jafar Hasan (about the Urdu and Hindi languages).
The donation collection will be officially unveiled at a ceremony in India later this year.
This year, Oct 2 was declared by the United Nations as the International Day of Non-Violence.
Senior Labour leader Michael Foot Tuesday opened the exhibition of Gandhi-related photographs collected from across the world at the India House. The Acting Indian High Commissioner Asoke Mukherjee also launched a book, “Mahatma Gandhi: Images and Ideas for Non-Violence”, edited by London-based Indian broadcast journalist and the editor of NRIfm.com, Vijay Rana.
The book presents a remarkable collection of images of Gandhi’s statues, murals, graffiti, wall paintings, posters and puppets from across the world. It also presents the entire spectrum of Gandhian thought. Selected photographs from the book were presented at the exhibition.
Foot, a lifelong admirer of Gandhi, described the collection as “inspiring and overwhelming”. More than a hundred guests, including visiting dignitaries, Indian League and Britain’s Gandhi Foundation members attended the functions.
During the day, floral tributes were paid at Gandhi’s statue at Tavistock Square, London. Those present included K.G. Balakrishnan, chief justice of India, Hansraj Bharadwaj, minister of law and justice, and Milon Banerjee, the attorney general of India.
A film on satyagraha provided by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs was also screened.