From Nelson Mandela to Barack Obama: How Mahatma Gandhi inspired world leaders

India marks Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary every year on October 2 as Gandhi Jayanti. Widely revered as ‘Father of the Nation’, he helped India gain independence from British rule in August 1947.

Fondly called Bapu, Gandhi was born in 1869 in Gujarat’s Porbandar. His principle of non-violence has inspired several leaders around the world. Even today, the Mahatma remains a cherished figure in India and across the globe.

Here’s a look at how Mahatma Gandhi has influenced world leaders.

Martin Luther King Jr

American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Junior was inspired by Gandhi’s teaching of ahimsa or non-violence. As per his writings, the Indian freedom fighter was a “guiding light” for him.

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According to reports, King first came across Gandhi’s idea of non-violence when the former was studying to become a Christian minister. Recognising “the Gandhian method of nonviolence”, King discerned that non-violence could be a powerful weapon in the “struggle for freedom”.

He was already aware of Gandhi’s non-violent non-cooperation philosophy of Satyagraha (truth force). In the 1955-1956 Montgomery bus boycott, King and others boycotted buses in Alabama’s Montgomery due to the segregation of African Americans. The Supreme Court finally ruled the segregation unconstitutional in 1956.

Addressing a crowd after the verdict in New York City, King reportedly said “Christ showed us the way, and Gandhi in India showed it could work.”

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While the two never met, King learnt more about Gandhi during his months-long stay in India in 1959. In a radio address at the time, the American leader had said, “The spirit of Gandhi is so much stronger today than some people believe”.

In 2009, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution recognising Gandhi’s influence on King. “The trip to India impacted Dr King in a profound way, and inspired him to use non-violence as an instrument of social change to end segregation and racial discrimination in America throughout the rest of his work during the Civil Rights Movement,” it said.

Nelson Mandela

The South African revolutionary Nelson Mandela also drew inspiration from Gandhi’s idea of ahimsa. The former president who stood against apartheid in his country is known as “Gandhi of South Africa”.

Gandhi, who spent 21 years in South Africa, left the country in 1914, four years before Mandela was born. Mandela and the African National Congress mostly opposed violence in the fight against apartheid.

However, Mandela believed in “a more active, militant style of protest […] - actions that punished the authorities,” as per The Hindu.

“I called for non-violent protest for as long as it was effective,” Mandela once said.

In 1990, India conferred the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour, on Mandela. He was honoured with the International Gandhi Peace Prize in 2001 for his efforts to establish peace through Gandhi’s principles.

At the inauguration of a Gandhi memorial in South Africa in 1993, Mandela said: “Gandhi is most revered for his commitment to non-violence and the Congress movement was strongly influenced by this Gandhian philosophy.”

Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama in his 1989 Nobel Peace Prize speech had said that Gandhi’s life “taught and inspired” him. In a discourse on ‘Ancient Wisdom, Modern Thought’ at the University of Mumbai in 2011, the Tibetan spiritual leader reportedly stated, “Several international personalities are inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of non-violence and harmony, which were born in India. They have understood India’s values.”

“Non-violence and religious harmony are the two treasures of India. I feel people should learn religious harmony and non-violence from India. The country is a role model for others for non-violence and religious harmony,” he added.

Barack Obama

Former United States President Barack Obama is among those world leaders who were motivated by Gandhi’s principles of non-violence.

Obama has said he was inspired by the Indian leader’s principle of “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” During his address to the Indian Parliament in 2010, Obama had said, “I am greatly influenced by a man from your nation whose message of love and justice shows us the way ahead. Just as he (Gandhi) summoned Indians to seek their destiny, he influenced champions of equality in my own country including Martin Luther King Jr. Dr King called Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence and resistance as the only logical and moral approach in the struggle for justice and progress.”

In his book A Promised Land, the 44th US President wrote that his fascination with India mostly concerned Gandhi, whose “successful non-violent campaign against the British rule became a beacon for other dispossessed, marginalised groups”.

“More than anything, though, my fascination with India had to do with Mahatma Gandhi. Along with (Abraham) Lincoln, (Martin Luther) King, and (Nelson) Mandela, Gandhi had profoundly influenced my thinking,” he wrote.

Obama said about the Mahatma, “His notion of ‘satyagraha’, or devotion to truth, and the power of non-violent resistance to stir the conscience; his insistence on our common humanity and the essential oneness of all religions; and his belief in every society’s obligation, through its political, economic, and social arrangements, to recognise the equal worth and dignity of all people — each of these ideas resonated with me.”

With inputs from agencies