Professor Rajmohan Gandhi, President of Initiatives of Change—International (IofC), and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi gave a passionate presentation to the ALA student body on March 17th.
Professor Gandhi engaged students in a discussion on fresh approaches to some of the issues that challenge humankind. He spoke on issues of servant-leadership and the need for individuals to step up and take the lead on issues relevant to them. He also told anecdotes about growing up around his famous grandfather, and how that Gandhi held true to his beliefs in equality and equity for all, even when his supporters could not accept what he was saying.
Mr Gandhi shared the floor with Initiatives of Change participants from Lebanon and Mexico who also spoke of their personal journeys of leadership.
A journalist, academic and political activist, Professor Gandhi is Research Professor at the University of Illinois in the US where his interests in history cover the current state of South Asia, Hindu-Muslim and India-Pakistan relations and the resolution of ethnic tensions. He has written widely about the Indian independence movement and its leaders as well as on India-Pakistani relations. His maternal grandfather was C Rajagopalachari Rajaji, first Indian Governor General of independent India. Gandhi has also written biographies of both his grandfathers, the latest being a major study of Mahatma Gandhi, published in 2006.
