This bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Church Street in downtown Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, commemorates the incident on 7 June 1893 wherein Gandhi refused to comply with racial segregation rules on a South African train and was forcibly ejected at Pietermaritzburg. Following his experience on the train, he noted: “I was afraid for my very life. I entered the dark waiting room. There was a white man in the room. I was afraid of him. What was my duty? I asked myself. Should I go back to India, or should I go forward with God as my helper, and face whatever was in store for me? I decided to stay and suffer. My active non-violence began from that date.”
The seed for ‘Satyagraha’ (non-violent resistance) was planted right here in Pietermaritzburg on the night of June 7, 1893, he said.
Gandhi’s 21 years in South Africa shaped his philosophy, especially as it relates to peace and non-violence, Gengan said, explaining that while the event had been commemorated at the station where the incident occurred, they had been unable to do so since last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gandhi’s granddaughter Ela Gandhi, 80, who heads the Gandhi Development Trust which oversees the Phoenix Settlement that he started during his tenure in Durban, said that during the course of his life, Gandhi discovered many truths.
Credit : DT Next
Picture Credit : Google
