Sri Lanka commemorates 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu unveiled a bronze bust of Mahatma Gandhi at Temple Trees in Colombo yesterday, to pay tribute to his 150th birth anniversary. The 42-inch bust of Gandhi in meditative pose was sculpted by the Padma Bhushan Award-winning sculptor Ram Vanji Sutar, to whom the world’s tallest bronze statue, a 552-foot likeness of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, is credited.

Two commemorative postal stamps of Mahatma Gandhi issued by the Sri Lanka Post were released by the Prime Minister and High Commissioner Sandhu at this occasion. Other dignitaries and officials who graced the event included Minister of Power, Energy and Business Development Ravi Karunanayake, Minister of Plantation Industries Navin Dissanayake, Minister of Postal Services and Muslim Religious Affairs M.H.A. Haleem, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Southern Development and Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Sagala Ratnayaka, Sri Lanka Deputy Post-Master General D.A.R.K. Ranasinghe and Philatelic Bureau Director S.K. Meegama.

This was followed by a special lecture organised at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies Auditorium in BMICH where Justice Thurairaja P.C. delivered an oration on the ‘Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in Contemporary Times’. Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya and High Commissioner Sandhu also graced the event. Sri Lanka-India Society (SLIS) President Rohan Tudawe, former SLIS President Kumar Nadesan, the SLIS Secretary and many other distinguished dignitaries from the cultural, professional, academic and business circles of Sri Lanka also participated.