Assassinated 75 years ago, Mahatma Gandhi's legacy stands tall in Jacksonville

Scott Butler, Florida Times-Union
·2 min read
Mohanda "Mahatma" Gandhi, shown in this undated file photo, is one of the leaders who carried the dream of universal human rights slowly but relentlessly forward through the 20th century.
Mohanda "Mahatma" Gandhi, shown in this undated file photo, is one of the leaders who carried the dream of universal human rights slowly but relentlessly forward through the 20th century.
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Seventy-five years ago on Jan. 30, 1948, perhaps the world’s most renowned apostle of peace and nonviolence was stripped of his life at 78 years old.

Mahatma Gandhi, who championed for India’s independence from British rule, was shot by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse while on his way to a prayer gathering in New Delhi. Godse tried to shoot himself but was immediately seized by the crowd. He was tried for murder and executed the following year.

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Ashok Bazaz, president of the Gandhi Memorial Society, places a flower garland around an 8-foot tall bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi after it was unveiled during Gandhi Day at the University of North Florida on Oct. 1, 2006, in Jacksonville.
Ashok Bazaz, president of the Gandhi Memorial Society, places a flower garland around an 8-foot tall bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi after it was unveiled during Gandhi Day at the University of North Florida on Oct. 1, 2006, in Jacksonville.

Gandhi’s legacy extends all the way to Jacksonville where the University of North Florida became the first college in the country and first place in Florida to erect a statue in his honor in 2006.

Created in India by artist Jasu Shilpi and donated by the Gandhi Memorial Society of Jacksonville, the bronze statue is about 8 feet tall and 1,500 pounds. It stands in the Peace Plaza between Founders Hall and J.J. Daniel Hall, adjacent to a similar statue designed by Shilpi of Martin Luther King Jr. that was unveiled in 2012.

Jason Pidcock of Powell's Custom Metal welds the glasses on the top of the ears of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi on Sept. 25, 2006, preparing for its installation at the University of North Florida.
Jason Pidcock of Powell's Custom Metal welds the glasses on the top of the ears of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi on Sept. 25, 2006, preparing for its installation at the University of North Florida.

It depicts a lifelike, bespectacled Gandhi walking with a long stick and the base engraved with four principles he stood for: nonviolence, peace, compassion and truth.

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In an April 26, 2006, Times-Union story previewing the plans, Dev Goswami of the Gandhi Memorial Society said  Gandhi was the most noble man who ever walked the earth.

"The best thing we can do for Gandhi is spread his thoughts and philosophies," he said.

Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi sits and spins cotton in Ahmadabad, India, in this file photo taken circa 1931. Gandhi's wooden spinning wheel still stands among the simple throw pillows where he once sat cross-legged, threading cotton, receiving world leaders and promoting his vision of a unified, secular India. Today, just beyond the white-washed cottages of the independence leader's ashram, Muslims and Hindus have turned on one another with a ferocity not seen in a decade.

Ramesh Vashi, also of the society, noted that Gandhi’s philosophies are and will always be needed across the globe.

"His values are so relevant in today's age," he said. "Violence is rampant in today's society."

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In 2017 one of Gandhi’s grandsons even visited Jacksonville to speak at a Girls Inc. of Jacksonville event. Robin Rose, CEO of the agency at the time, was a longtime friend of Arun Gandhi, the subject of her doctoral dissertation and she once ran his nonprofit in Denver. He travels the world sharing the lessons from his elders.

Peace activist and author Arun Gandhi speaks in front of a photo of his grandfather Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement and proponent of nonviolent civil disobedience. The younger Gandhi served as the keynote speaker at a Girls Inc. of Jacksonville event in 2017.
Peace activist and author Arun Gandhi speaks in front of a photo of his grandfather Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement and proponent of nonviolent civil disobedience. The younger Gandhi served as the keynote speaker at a Girls Inc. of Jacksonville event in 2017.

"My grandfather had a vision for an empowered and nonviolent world that he passed down to me," the 83-year-old activist and author at the time told the Times-Union ahead of his visit. "He lived by his most famous saying, 'Be the change you want to see in the world.' He believed that individual efforts do make a difference in creating the change we want to see in the world, which is a world without violence."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Assassinated 75 years, Mahatma Gandhi statue is at UNF in Jacksonville