130 years of Pietermaritzburg

 Message of  Pietermaritzburg 

        It was 130 years ago  on 7th June 1893, M K Gandhi, an young Indian barrister, traveling in a train from Durban to Pretoria  was forcefully evicted at Pietermaritzburg railway station in South Africa. The reason was that he  was black in complexion and the  person who thrown him  out was a white man. It was nothing but  apartheid or  racial discrimination. Discriminatory mentality was the only reason behind for kicking him out of the train on that fateful night. 

     Discrimination of any kind, on any basis and at any level is wrong and unwholesome. It must be vehemently  opposed. We cannot end discrimination unless  we remove this feeling  which is  rooted in our hearts and minds. To end the suffering and humiliation caused by discrimination it is essential  to create a feeling that we are all equal. No one is small, big or different. We want to create a  cordial relationship among  all members of  humanity, respect for each other on the basis of brotherhood and love  and  work against the very  mentality that creates discrimination. Keeping this in mind  Sevagram Ashram  Pratishthan  (SAP )organized a programme  on the occasion of 130 anniversary of Pietermaritzburg incident  on June 9, 2023.

The programme began with a warm welcome  by Dr. Siby K. Joseph  who said  the  dangerous forms of discrimination are taking place in the name of religion, caste ,language etc. It was followed  by a PowerPoint presentation on 130 years of  Pietermaritzburg by Shri  Pradeep Khelurkar, Secretary, SAP. He succinctly described  the incident on the fateful night and how Gandhi's active nonviolence began on that day. His presentation was based on archival materials and it created curiosity among the viewers. He also explained Gandhi's connection with the city  and posthumous conferral of Freedom of the city of Pietermaritzburg in 1997  on him by Nelson Mandela who earlier received the same . He concluded it  by explaining how history is recreated by preserving  and marking the places in which the incident took place.   

Shri Kishor Jagtap   Project Officer , Mission Samruddhi,Wardha  was the keynote speaker.  He elaborated on  the various forms of discrimination that are  happening in  contemporary Indian society  and the need to arrest them to preserve  the multicultural fabric of the society. The whole society is divided and discriminated against in the name of religion, caste and so on. The constitutional principles should remain  as the guiding values in the process of removing these discriminations in a nonviolent way.  Smt. Asha ben Bothra, President of SAP presided over the function and reflected on the significance of the day. Shri Mohd Husein Farid Shaikh ,Member , Board of Trustees  of SAP  was also present in the dais. The programme was attended by more than 70 persons.