LUCKNOW: If US-based Gandhi enthusiast, ophthalmologist Dr Sriram Sonty, has his way, there will be a ‘Gandhi 150 US postal service commemorative stamp’ to mark the 150 birth anniversary of the Mahatma in the USA.
For this, US resident Sonty has been running a vigorous campaign there. Sonty says: “I launched the journey for the stamp on January 30, 1998, the 50th anniversary of Gandhi Ji’s assassination. Then I reinitiated it in 2017 with the involvement of Congresswoman Robin C Kelly and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorhi of Illinois. They sent a letter to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee. However, because of certain issues, the request was denied. We have to collect 20,000 signed petitions across the USA. We are at 5,000 and are hopeful of having the stamp issued on October 2, 2020.”
According to an email message by Sonty, he became a Gandhi enthusiast in 1989 after his visit to Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram in India and Pietermaritzburg Railway Station in South Africa.
He is a trustee with the Gandhi Memorial Trust Skokie, Illinois and has presented over a hundred slideshows at various forums.
{{/usCountry}}He is a trustee with the Gandhi Memorial Trust Skokie, Illinois and has presented over a hundred slideshows at various forums.
{{/usCountry}}Sonty says: “He is running the campaign because Mahatma Gandhi is universally acknowledged as the ‘father of Indian independence’ -- the man who won the country’s freedom from the colonial masters without firing a shot.”
“Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence inspired millions, including American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Often against great odds and popular beliefs, Gandhi spent his life fighting to overcome modern forms of enslavement and caste oppression, religious hatred, gender oppression and poverty. The most enduring example of Gandhi’s leadership is his worldwide influence. Martin Luther King Jr., the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and countless other leaders have been deeply influenced by Gandhi and his philosophy of non-violence. In 1994, in a Gandhian spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation, Nelson Mandela reached out to his adversaries -- the same ones who had tortured and imprisoned him to bring an end to apartheid rule,” Sonty says.
Sonty had campaigned in San Jose, Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco, and many other areas in the USA for collecting signed petitions and has spent over $10,000 towards this passion of his.