INAUGURATION OF THE EXHIBITION ON MAHATMA GANDHI
BY THE HONOURABLE ANĠLU FARRUGIA
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PARLIAMENT OF MALTA
St James Cavalier Centre of Arts and Creativity – Valletta, Malta
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
Excellencies
Distinguished Guests
Dear friends
One hundred and forty four years ago to the day, the architect of Indian
independence began his charismatic and eventful journey on this earth.
Congratulations, Mr High Commissioner, for having arranged for this
exhibition on Mahatma Gandhi to be inaugurated on such a red-letter
anniversary. Gandhi himself, obsessed as he was with punctuality and timekeeping, would surely have loved that. I myself feel privileged to have the
opportunity today to be associated so closely with such a great man who was
precise and very correct in everything that he did.
The nominative ‘Mahatma’ meaning ‘Great Soul’ was not given to Gandhi
without good reason. Gandhi’s list of attributes appears to us interminable.
Character is not measured by the absence of problems, but by the presence of
virtue. Mahatma Gandhi was a living image of pacifism, of a quasi-divine form
of non-violent resistance where one achieves results by silent protestation, of
the practice he perfected of satyagraha which makes oppressor and oppressed
alike recognize their common bonding and humanity. On Gandhi’s 70th
birthday, the great physicist Albert Einstein had said of him: Generations to
come, it may well be, will scarcely believe that such a man as this ever walked
in flesh and blood upon this earth.
Gandhi was a lawyer like me, and his style of living was very simple. He
removed the caste barrier. He gave advise to the people of India at all times as
much as he did when he advised the students of his time to read vocational
subjects in order to be self-dependent.
Gandhi was a spiritual man and he spiritualised the politics. As we all know,
Mahatma Gandhi was pained to find that many politicians had become greedy
for power soon after independence. He urged and appealed them to work for the
development of the country. He also told the people to love and tolerate each
other.
The unnatural death of Mahatma Gandhi, ran all over the World. He was shot
dead whilst on his way to attend a prayer in 1948. Though each and everyone of
us mourne the death of our brothers, sisters, parents, dear colleages and friends,
his death was mourned all over the world, when the media rang the bell, and
today we commemorate the inheritance this noble man gave whilst alive, to all
those who today seek to weave the four major virtues I mentioned before, with
the present political live of today; the life of each and every citizen of this
world.
One of his famous quotes for all of you, to reflect about: “Even if you are a
minority of one, the truth is the truth.” Though for me the best quote is this:
“Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.”
Mahatma Gandhi’s composed stance in the face of adversity can be
summarized in one saying attributed to him: ‘First they ignore you, then they
laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win.’ For as long as we breathe,
so are we confronted by endless struggles in life. We worry when people turn
their heads away from us. So did Gandhi. We feel dejected when others delight
at our tumbles. So did Gandhi. We sense weakness when those around us
jostle us. So did Gandhi. But how truly accomplished we become when we rise
above the acrimony and the bitterness to gain the upper hand in the face of
adversity, armed solely with the forces of solid argumentation, clever assertion,
and an amiable approach. So had Gandhi felt too.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Tonight, the local School of Practical Philosophy will coincidentally inaugurate
one of its courses in Valletta with another of Gandhi’s famous quotations: A
man is but the product of his thoughts, what he thinks he becomes. Gandhi had
always considered himself to be a normal individual, a man with a humble
background, a human being with no pretentions for grandeur or high esteem.
Yet, he became a great leader, an eminent pioneer, an inspiring trail-blazer. He
died at the hands of a radical extremist as he had lived throughout his lifetime,
blessing his aggressor with the words: He ram! He ram!
Sixty five years from his untimely death, we are today commemorating this
great man with the same respect and with the same adulation as ever. Live as if
you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever, in Gandhi’s
own words. With these thought-provoking words, I urge you to join me to view
this exhibition, that I hereby declare open, about a world celebrity, the ‘father of
the Indian nation’, Mahatma Gandhi.