Mahatma Gandhi's grandson to speak about 'Legacies'

By Jared Wadley
News Service


Rajmohan Gandhi, a biographer and grandson of the late Mahatma Gandhi, will speak Jan. 20 at U-M as part of the campus celebration honoring the late civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.

Rajmohan Ghandi

Rajmohan Gandhi's grandfather was a renowned leader and thinker whose non-violent principles were instrumental in gaining India's independence from Britain and also deeply influenced and inspired King and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

The lecture begins at 4 p.m. in Schorling Auditorium, School of Education, 610 East University. The title is "Clinging to the Truth in the 21st Century: What the Legacies of King and Gandhi Offer."

Rajmohan Gandhi is an honorary visiting professor and director of Global Crossroads at the University of Illinois at Urbana­Champaign. He wrote his grandfather's biography, "The Good Boatman: A Portrait of Gandhi."

But his scholarly record extends beyond his lineage. His major publications include biographies of Indian freedom fighters and a recent study of Hindu-Muslim relations.

In addition, his research interests include the history and current state of South Asia. Rajmohan Gandhi has served as a member of the Indian Upper House of Parliament, and he led the Indian delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva in 1990.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Center for South Asian Studies in the South Asia Current Affairs series and the International Institute. Gandhi's visit is one of many January events during the U-M 16th Annual MLK Symposium.

For more information on the lecture, contact the Center for South Asian Studies at (734) 764-0352 or visit http://www.umich.edu/~iinet/csas/.

Additional information about other symposium events can be found at http://www. http://mlksymposium.org. The Record will run a complete calendar of events in the Jan. 13 issue.

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