150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi

Your Excellency Ambassador Sanjay Kumar Verma, dear citizens of India. I am Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of The Nippon Foundation. It is my greatest honor to be addressing you on this occasion celebrating the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Gandhi expresses in his Constructive Programme that the lot of the persons affected by leprosy is, “without a doubt, heartlessly neglected” and places importance on building an independent nation where “there would not be a beggar or person affected by leprosy uncared for in India.” I, as the WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, have traveled throughout India more than 50 times in the last 40 years, meeting persons affected by leprosy and national and state leaders, to fulfill the aspiration of Gandhi which was to realize a world without stigma and discrimination faced by persons affected by leprosy. My mission will continue until my goal is achieved. I believe that the Gandhi Peace Prize which I humbly received from your Government last year is a message of encouragement from Gandhi “to strive even harder.” I then visited Sabarmati Ashram, the home of Gandhi, right away to renew my strong determination.

The cultural exchange between India and Japan which can be traced back as far as 1500 years developed into a deeper and broader relationship with the inauguration of the Japan-India Association in 1903 by the “Father of Japanese Capitalism,” Eiichi Shibusawa. Ever since many great Indian figures have strengthened the old bridges of understanding and friendship between our two countries.

The great spiritual leader and a great Indian hero, Swami Vivekananda.
Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel Prize laureate in Literature who had a close interaction with the famous Japanese philosopher, Tenshin Okakura.
The great Indian judge, Radhabinod Pal, respected by many Japanese for his noble spirit of pronouncing the dissenting judgement for the Japanese war criminals at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

Among them, Gandhi is an extraordinary figure known to and respected by the Japanese citizens across generations as the Father of Indian Independence

The twentieth century is said to be a century of wars. There was much hope that the twenty first century will bring peace and stability. But what is the reality? Unfortunately, there is a rising threat of unilateral destruction of power balance by force. Gandhi states as follows: “Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.” I believe that there is no other time than now to learn from the spirit of nonviolence of Gandhi to resolve conflicts not through force nor arms to bring about world peace.

Gandhi fell to the bullet of an assassin without fulfilling his ambition. But this great spirit the Mahatma, continues to live on in the hearts of the Indian people and of the people throughout the world. It is my wish that the young people of India and Japan will together with this Mahatma deepen the friendly relationship built by those who came before us and to realize global peace and prosperity for mankind, needless to say of course for India and Japan.

Thank you very much.

＊This video message is available at The Nippon Foundation YouTube.