The power of one
Author, professor, and humanitarian Rajmohan Gandhi spoke on the merits and influence of nonviolence, and more specifically about his iconic grandfather, Mohandas “Mahatma Gandhi,” and Martin Luther King Jr. on the afternoon of November 15. His lecture, part of the University’s “Year of India” series, filled the Salomon Center’s De Ciccio Family Auditorium with students, faculty, and the public.
In speech entitled “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi,” Rajmohan Gandhi explored the history and philosophies of the two civil-rights leaders. He also focused on Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a key follower of Mahatma Gandhi in the nonviolent movement to remove British rule from India. The talk traced the genealogy of nonviolence, Mahatma Gandhi’s path to nonviolence, Gandhi and King’s shared philosophy, the partnership between Gandhi and African Americans, and nonviolence in today’s world.
A professor at Illinois/Urbana-Champaign, Gandhi takes a moment after his speech to answer students’ questions.
“Gandhi, King, and Khan knew fear, and they knew pain,” Gandhi told his Brown audience. “They knew oppression; they knew anger. For a time they were, indeed all of
them, drawn to an idea of violence.
“But they loved their people too much to despise or hate other people.”
In a one-on-one chat after the speech, Gandhi emphasized that each person’s actions for justice can have a profound impact. “Don’t underestimate the power of a single individual,” he said.
Currently a research professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Rajmohan Gandhi is president of the International Council of Initiatives of Change and the author of several books including Mohandas: A True Story of a Man, His People and an Empire, a 2007 biography of his grandfather that won the prestigious National Biennial Barpujari Prize of the Indian History Congress.