Hyderabad: Gandhian ideology more relevant now than ever

Hyderabad: Commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the University of Hyderabad (UoH) organised a one-day international Webinar on 'Peace from within to a Global Peace in Gandhian perspective,' on Monday. The webinar was conducted in collaboration with Gandhi-King Foundation, Hyderabad, and Gandhi-King Global Initiative, Stanford University, USA.

The event was spread over two sessions and had eminent delegates, speakers and scholars from around the world, who emphasized peace as the central principle of life and Gandhian perspective about it. The morning session began with Dr Prajna Paramita Mishra welcoming the guests. The inaugural session was addressed by Professor Shiv Kumar, Director, Office of International Affairs, UoH, followed by briefing on the webinar's objectives by Professor Naresh Kumar Sharma, also a webinar coordinator.

Prasad Gollanapalli, the managing trustee of Gandhi-King foundation, Hyderabad, joined the webinar to explain about the relevance of Gandhian philosophy in today's world. Gollanapalli, a Gandhian scholar, has spent around four decades spreading the peace and non-violence dialogue around the world through Gandhian ideology.

"We selected the theme peace for our today's discussion in order to explore how Gandhian philosophy can help an individuals develop peace within themselves, in their family, in the society, in the country and then in the whole world. Unless we change ourselves, we cannot change the world. It has to start with us," said Prasad Gollanapalli.

The keynote address began with Prof Clayborne Carson, Director, The Martin Luther King Jr Research and Education Institute, Stanford university, USA. "Whenever students ask me what's the one thing they can learn from King's ideologies, I ask them to read Martin Luther King's last book, "Where do we go from here?" We haven't answered his question, as yourself the same question, try to get the answer." He added, "King was 19 when Gandhi got assassinated. Gandhian philosophy of 'non-violence' had a great influence on King and he thought non-violence was the most potent weapon. King saw non-violence as an expression of love and peace for all."

Emphasising the need for global conversations to work for establishing global peace based on Gandhian and King's philosophy, Professor Carson suggested, "We should have specific courses dealing with the history and philosophies of Gandhi and King in the universities for higher education. We can bring together historical and technological knowledge to train individuals about the non-violence and perseverance."

The second and final session was held via Google Meet in the evening. Professor Appa Rao Podile, Vice Chancellor UoH, Dr Sriram Sonty, Professor Paul Bueno de Mesquita, Director, Centre for Peace & Nonviolence Studies, University of Rhode Island, Dr Sarada Purna Sonty, Professor Michael Honey, University of Washington Tacoma, David Kirschbaum, Director, Non-violence International, Professor Isao Takagi, Soka University also joined the webinar and shared their opinions.