[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 146 (Monday, October 3, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1737-E1738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          CELEBRATING GANDHI JAYANTI, INDIA'S NATIONAL HOLIDAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOSEPH CROWLEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 3, 2011

  Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege and honor to offer my 
best wishes to the millions of Indian-Americans and to Indians around 
the globe on this Gandhi Jayanti, India's national holiday celebrating 
the birth of Mohandas Gandhi.
  Political prisoner, freedom fighter, father of a nation--Gandhi 
shaped modern India and has continued to shape the world we live in by 
inspiring some the greatest leaders of our time. A champion for the 
rights of all people, he fought apartheid in South Africa, colonial 
rule in India, and oppression and injustice in all its guises. In doing 
so, he has inspired our world's greatest leaders from Nelson Mandela to 
Cesar Chavez, Aung San Suu Kyi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[[Page E1738]]

  It was Dr. King who once said he owed his inspiration to fight 
injustice to God and his method--nonviolent resistance--to Gandhi. The 
American civil rights movement, from lunch counter sit-ins to the 
Montgomery County bus boycott, was influenced by Gandhi's foundational 
principle of Satyagraha, or nonviolent civil disobedience.
  Today, modern India is a leader as the world's largest democracy, 
among the world's largest economies, and as our close friend and ally. 
The U.S.-India friendship remains a growing and essential part of U.S. 
foreign policy, and working together our two countries are a powerful 
force for positive change in the region and in the world.
  On this day, I join the Indian-American community and friends around 
the globe to remember and celebrate the life of this fearless man who 
led a nation to gain independence for his people from the British 
Empire. Gandhi's life was a testament to invincibility of truth over 
injustice. As he said, ``When I despair, I remember that all through 
history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been 
tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the 
end, they always fall. Think of it, always.''

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