The US-based Gandhi Monument Council formed of interfaith clergy has urged the mayors of 185 of world’s important cities spread in 39 countries to name one of the major streets of their respective cities after peace icon Mahatma Gandhi.
Right Reverend Gene Savoy Jr. and Rajan Zed, Council coordinators, in a communiqué to these cities, requested that they would prefer the name of this proposed street to be “Mahatma Gandhi Marg” (marg means path). While Savoy is Head Bishop of International Community of Christ, Zed is the president of Universal Society of Hinduism.
The cities contacted included from highly populated like Seoul (over ten million), Tokyo, New York, London, etc., to thinly populated like Eschen (in Liechtenstein, with about 4,000 population), Valletta (Malta), Encamp (Andorra), Dudelange (Luxembourg), etc. The countries where the cities were contacted are as diverse as Norway, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Qatar, Israel, Brunei, Slovenia, Bahamas, etc.
Rajan Zed and Rev. Gene Savoy point out that many cities have forwarded their request to their street naming committees, while some have stated that they already have a street named after Gandhi. Few have plainly said “no”, like Australia’s capital Canberra, which citing its naming guidelines, stated that “roads and public places are to commemorate Australians and things Australian.”
The Gandhi Monument Council, with headquarters in America, is comprised of Christian (various denominations), Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Baha’i, Native American, etc., clergy. According to Zed and Savoy, the purpose of this Council is to commemorate Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence, his commitment to world peace, and his work for the upliftment of the downtrodden.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) was one of the few men in history to fight simultaneously on moral, religious, political, social, economic, and cultural fronts. His life and thought had an enormous impact on the world, and he continues to be widely revered as one of the greatest moral, political, and peace leaders of the twentieth century.
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