This story is from October 1, 2015

PM rides Gandhi wagon to woo Africa leaders

This Gandhi Jayanti, PM Narendra Modi will rekindle Mahatma Gandhi’s Africa connection to reach out to African leaders ahead of the third India-Africa Forum Summit from October 27-29.
PM rides Gandhi wagon to woo Africa leaders
NEW DELHI: This Gandhi Jayanti, PM Narendra Modi will rekindle Mahatma Gandhi’s Africa connection to reach out to African leaders ahead of the third India-Africa Forum Summit from October 27-29.
A mobile exhibition, named Memories of the Mahatma, has been organized by the Modi government in the form of a specially designed truck which will leave Porbandar on Friday and traverse Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana before reaching the summit venue, Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, here on October 29.

Modi looks at the Africa summit as one of his most significant diplomatic engagements since he took over as PM. After he asked MEA to organize events to stress Gandhi’s special bond with Africa, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj spoke to the chief ministers of Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat and requested them to facilitate the movement of the truck and also organize events along the route. MEA has now also written to the chief secretaries of all three states seeking their cooperation.
Designed in the form of a museum, the truck will showcase the Mahatma’s entire life, including all important events which transformed India’s political landscape, in the form of photographs and audio-visual content. It will also feature sound and light shows on Gandhi’s life and his work in Africa.

The truck will showcase the Mahatma’s life, through photographs and audio-visual content, besides featuring sound and light shows.
The truck will pass through all iconic places associated with Gandhi’s life before reaching Delhi. These include Dandi, Rajkot and Sabarmati in Gujarat. It will also pass through Jodhpur, Ajmer, Jaipur and Pilani in Rajasthan. Modi sees events around the Mahatma’s Africa connect as a tribute to “the vision of the Father of the Nation’’.

The mobile museum will seek to highlight how Africa was the birthplace of Gandhi’s satyagraha. Another reason for Modi enthusiastically drawing on the Mahatma is the fact that the Summit is taking place exactly 100 years after his return from Africa as a mass leader against racial discrimination and oppression.
The truck will pass through schools, seeking to inform children of Gandhi’s links with Africa. It will also pick up memorabilia along the route, like salt from Dandi, which will be gifted to African leaders by Modi himself.
The truck will be flagged off by Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel in Porbandar after the inaugural event at the Kirti temple, located next to the birthplace of the Mahatma. It will then head to Rajkot where it will stop at Rajkot High School (earlier Alfred High School) from where Gandhi graduated. The mobile museum will also visit Dandi, Sabarmati and Gandhinagar before heading to Rajasthan.
Swaraj is expected to attend an event around the mobile exhibition in Gurgaon just before it reaches Delhi. Modi will be present in the stadium when the canter reaches there on October 29.
India sees the summit as a springboard to a more intense and strategic engagement with Africa, the resource-rich continent where it is playing catch-up with China. South African President Jacob Zuma and his Nigerian counterpart Muhammadu Buhari are among those who have confirmed their participation. The summit will address major global issues like climate change, UNSC reforms and international terrorism.
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