Modi pays homage to symbols of peace, equality, unity

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday paid homage to three memorials symbolising peace, equality and unity dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln.

Modi started his day with a visit to the Gandhi memorial in front of the Indian embassy in Washington before heading for his bilateral summit with President Barack Obama.

Wearing a light orange kurta and a white Nehru jacket, he paid floral tributes at the statue of Mahatama Gandhi, apostle of non-violence and father of Indian nation.

A large number of Indian-Americans chanted "Modi, Modi" as he arrived at the memorial with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh.

Cast in bronze, the eight feet and eight inches high statue designed by Gautam Pal shows Gandhi in stride, as a leader and man of action evoking memories of his 1930 protest march against salt-tax, and the many other padyatras (long marches) he undertook during the freedom struggle.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then the prime minister of India, had dedicated the Gandhi Memorial in the presence of then President Bill Clinton, Sep 16, 2000, during a state visit to the US.

Later, Modi also visited the memorials of American civil rights leader King, whose struggle for the blacks was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and Lincoln, the 16th president who issued an emancipation declaration to free slaves and led a civil war to save the American union.

King's memorial was dedicated Aug 28, 2011, the 48th anniversary of his groundbreaking March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and his "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered from the nearby Lincoln Memorial.

Designed by Lei Yixin, the 30-foot-high white granite Stone of Hope statue detached from the Mountain of Despair reflects the victory snatche from disappointment.

The 98-foot high Lincoln Memorial, designed by Henry Bacon, on the National Mall is a favourite haunt of Obama, who is an admirer of all three icons: Gandhi, King and Lincoln.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)