GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 28th July. External affairs minister S Jaishankar dedicated a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Tokyo’s Edogawa ward on Sunday, describing the nation’s father as a global symbol whose achievements had far outlived his own time.
Edogawa Ward features the Nishi-Kasai area, which is home to approximately 3,000 Indians. The region is also known as “Little India”. Jaishankar arrived in Japan on Sunday to attend a meeting of the Quad Foreign Ministers on Monday.
Edogawa Ward and its mayor, Takeshi Saito, have decided to strengthen ties with India by erecting a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at a park named after him.
“In India, we think of…Mahatma Gandhi as the father of our nation, understandably. But for the world, he is actually a global icon,” Jaishankar said at the event held to unveil the bust.
It is important to have the statue in Tokyo because Gandhi’s achievements have far outlived his own times and become more important with the passage of time, and also because Gandhi’s message, through his life and work, is timeless, Jaishankar said.
“What he taught us was important then, it is important even now,” he added.
Noting that Edogawa ward is called Little India, Jaishankar said: “I hope it becomes bigger, but this is a place where the Indian community in Tokyo lives and gathers in large numbers. And I cannot think of a more appropriate occasion and a better way of strengthening bonds between India and Japan than by this event.”
Jaishankar added: “We all know that without Mahatma Gandhi, our independence struggle would perhaps have taken much longer, gone a different direction, who knows.”
“But the independence of India actually decolonised the entire world, it was the starting point of a very momentous event. That when India became free, other parts of Asia became free, Africa became free, Latin America became free.”
India’s rise to become the world’s fifth largest economy, as well as the global shift toward multipolarity, “began as a result of what Gandhiji did in history,” he stated.
At a time when the globe is filled with conflict, tension, polarization, and bloodshed, Jaishankar believes it is “very important that Gandhiji’s message was that solutions do not come from a battlefield, that no era should be an era of war.”
He also praised Gandhi as the “original prophet of sustainable growth,” claiming that the leader delivered an important message about sustainability, climate friendliness, and green growth.
In a post on X, Jaishankar said that Gandhi’s “achievements continue to inspire us to this day, and his message of peace and nonviolence is timeless.”
He praised Mayor Takeshi Saito, parliamentary vice minister of international affairs Masahiro Komura, Member of Parliament Hideo Onishi, and Indian community members for attending the ceremony.
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