There is hardly anyone who has not heard of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji, with his toothless smile, captivated the world with a distinct political philosophy: Non-Violence. Gandhi was instrumental in guiding India to political freedom in 1947. Following Gandhi’s model, many leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. have adopted non-violence as their philosophy. On October 2, the day Gandhi was born, the world observes the International Day of Non-Violence.
Many nations have ceased to believe in peaceful negotiations to settle international and civil disputes. The army and the police have turned to be instruments of violence in many places. Gandhi himself did not believe in the necessity of an army at all. The UN wants to reaffirm the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence through the observance of the day. According to the UN General Assembly resolution, the day is an occasion to disseminate the message of non-violence through public awareness.
The International Day of Non-Violence is an opportunity to remember the words of the great man: “Non-violence is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of Man”.
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