Sushma to commemorate 125th year of Mahatma's humiliation

A century and a quarter after Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was thrown out of a train for travelling in a "whites only" coach, India and South Africa will commemorate the event next week.

The incident had given birth to 'Satyagraha'.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will travel by train from Pentrich to Pietermaritzburg in South Africa next Thursday to be part of the event to mark the 125th anniversary of the day the Mahatma was humiliated.

She will be joined by South African dignitaries on the train, which will be draped in khadi fabrics from India.

Gandhi, a young lawyer from India, was thrown out of a train at Pietermaritzburg Station in South Africa on June 7, 1893, after he refused to vacate his seat in a "whites only" coach.

The High Commission of India in Pretoria will hold a series of events on Wednesday and Thursday to commemorate the incident.

These include the release of commemorative stamps on South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, Oliver Tambo, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya.

A Youth Summit will also be held with 20 youths from the Indian diaspora in Africa and five from India participating to speak on the relevance of Mahatma Gandhi's message of peace to the youths of today, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Saturday.

Sushma will visit the Phoenix Settlement, now a South African heritage site, marking the place that served as Mahatma Gandhi's home and where he developed his philosophy of non-violence, the MEA stated.

Sushma left New Delhi for a tour to South Africa on Saturday.

Apart from attending the commemorating events at Pietermaritzburg Station on Wednesday and Thursday, she will also take part in the meetings of the foreign ministers of the members of the BRICS (a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and the IBSA (another bloc comprising India, Brazil and South Africa).