Initiatives of Change International President, Professor Rajmohan Gandhi, was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by Liverpool Hope University at a ceremony in Liverpool Cathedral on 13 July 20110. The university’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Gerald Pillay, explained that Gandhi was being honoured because of his efforts to achieve India-Pakistan and Hindu-Muslim reconciliation. The following is taken from Gandhi’s acceptance speech.
I take [this award] as a prod to do more, or better. In response I want to underline what all here know, which is that the future of humanity depends on whether or not the Muslim/non-Muslim divide can be bridged.
This bridge will have to be built from both sides, and by people of all kinds, including citizens, scholars, people in government, religious leaders, journalists, artists, and others.
An essential tool for this bridge will be the ability that Gandhi remarkably had – of speaking the truth to your own side.
Allow me to point out that courageous sounds have lately been heard in Pakistan, where politicians, editorial writers, and grass-root activists are demanding that religious minorities be protected and assured equal rights. I salute their voice.
I was similarly struck, on a visit in April of this year to Israel and Palestine, by Jewish voices demanding justice for Palestine. On Easter Day I had the good fortune to visit the spot where Jesus was born and also the site where, it is believed, Abraham was buried. In each sacred spot I made two silent prayers, one for the liberation of Palestine and the other for the safety of the people of Israel.
All know that Britain has been involved in the stories of several nations, including in the Middle East, and including India and Pakistan. Equally, Pakistanis and Indians are involved in the stories of today’s Britain. Through this response I would like to express my conviction that people living in Britain, including those present this afternoon in this cathedral, and including Britons of Pakistani and Indian origin, have a role in bringing healing and justice to the Middle East and in the India-Pakistan relationship.
On my nuclearized subcontinent (which includes India, Pakistan and Bangladesh), a water crisis looms in the near horizon even as hundreds of millions of the hitherto impoverished look forward to a better life. Will armies insist on continuing to face one another at great heights in Siachen in Kashmir, where – while guns for the moment are silent – the freeze kills soldiers of both stripes every day? Will the armies continue to do this until the ice and the glaciers melt?
Whether on the subcontinent or here or elsewhere, the call for reconciliation is actually a call for sanity. It is also, today, my prayer as I receive the honour conferred on me. Thanks again.
A report of the event, including video and a transcript of Professor Gandhi's speech, can be found on the website of Liverpool Hope University here.
A further report in the The Telegraph, Calcutta can be found here.
The writer, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and research professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was President of Initiatives of Change International at the time of the award.
NOTE: Individuals of many cultures, nationalities, religions, and beliefs are actively involved with Initiatives of Change. These commentaries represent the views of the writer and not necessarily those of Initiatives of Change as a whole.
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