Piccadilly Circus lights up with Mahatma’s message

by AMIT ROY

MAHATMA Gandhi’s universal messages of peace and reconciliation are being taken all over the world as part of his 150th anniversary celebrations.

In London on Tuesday (2), the Indian icon’s images and some of his famous sayings were projected on to a giant screen in Piccadilly Circus. This was once considered the heart of

the British empire.

Among his most quoted statements is one used by politicians of all colours in Britain as well as social reformers, “be the change you wish to see in the world”.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar in Gujarat on October 2, 1869, so his 150th birth anniversary will not fall until next year.

But departing Indian high commissioner Yash Sinha stood in front of the statue of Eros, a gathering point for young people from all over the world, as he explained: “This is part of the start of his 150th anniversary celebrations. I pass by Piccadilly Circus every day and there could not be a more iconic spot.”

On Tuesday, Indian High Commissions and embassies held similar events all over the world. The celebrations will continue through the year. Gandhi, who first came to London in

1888 as a young law student to train as a barrister, grew to love the city. He would

later make it clear he liked the British: his problem was with British rule. The projection of Gandhi in Piccadilly Circus was for an hour from noon to 1pm.

“Normally they show ads here,” the high commissioner said. “We will have thousands of footfalls from tourists.”

The images and sayings were projected onto the façade of India House in the Aldwych in the evening.

A woman leading a group of boys and girls from abroad briefly explained the significance of Gandhi before moving off.

The images and Gandhi quotations were prepared by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi and it is fair to say the Mahatma was good with pithy sound bites long before the age of television.

It is remarkable how relevant they are to the concerns and politics of young people in the west, especially on issues like sustainable development and nonviolence. They would have been puzzled, though, by the spinning wheel.

For example, the green lobby in Britain would certainly subscribe to Gandhi’s view: “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” He was spot on now that the message of the movie Wall Street – “greed is good” – has fallen out of favour.

Another saying popular in Britain is: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

This was recently quoted by assistant commissioner Neil Basu, the number three at Scotland Yard and Britain’s head of counter-terrorism.

It may be going too far to say Gandhi is more followed in Britain than in India, but today it is likely he would be treated like a rock star, much like the Dalai Lama is on his visits to the UK.

There were several timely messages on non-violence and terrorism: “Terrorism and deception are not the weapons of the strong but of the weak”; “Strength comes

not from physical capacity, it comes from an indomitable will”; and “Non-violence

is the virtue of the strong”.

A new book on viceroys makes the point that the Mahatma certainly irritated a succession of British rulers with his indomitable will.

Gandhi also said: “A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes.”