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Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver recently headed a bipartisan New Jersey delegation to honor India and Indian-Americans during the week of the martyrdom of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and on the 60th anniversary of the day India became a sovereign, democratic republic.

Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948 after successfully leading India to freedom from centuries of British Raj. He had a profound influence on Dr. Martin Luther King who adopted Gandhi's strategy of Satyagraha or mass civil disobedience in his fight for civil rights for African-Americans. King's visit to India in 1959 to meet with Gandhi's family deepened his resolve to lead America's struggle for civil rights and convinced him that the best means was through non-violent resistance. He was especially inspired by these words of Gandhi - ‘Through our pain, we will make them see their injustice.'

The N.J. delegation's visit was part of an outreach program to the state's fastest-growing minority — Asian-Americans — under the stewardship of Assemblyman Upendra J. Chivukula. Hosted by Indian Consul General His Excellency Ambassador Prabhu Dayal, the event at the Consulate General of India was attended by hundreds of Indian-Americans from New Jersey and New York.

Oliver and Chivukula were joined by Senate Minority Leader Thomas H. Kean and Assembly Deputy Speakers John F. McKeon and Linda R. Greenstein. N.J. Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher also attended and presented Dayal with orchids and blueberries native to New Jersey as a symbol of growing ties between the people of New Jersey and the people of India.

"I am proud to honor Gandhi — a soldier of non-violence whose brilliant strategy of civil disobedience through non-violent non-cooperation and resistance helped free India from centuries of slavery and inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in his fight for civil rights in America," Oliver (D-Essex) said. "Indian-Americans are a valuable part of our state's economic, cultural and social mosaic. We welcome their input and participation in New Jersey's political process."

Oliver is the first African-American woman to become Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly.

"It is appropriate we honor a man who helped redefine history by freeing the great nation of India, one that I became fascinated with when I visited there in 2007. It is also appropriate we come together across party lines to reach out to our state's various constituencies," Kean (R-Union) said.

Assembly Deputy Speaker John F. McKeon noted that Gandhi's message was as relevant today as when he inspired Dr. King.

"He was a monumental man with a monumental message," McKeon (D-Essex) said. At this time in our history, Gandhi's message that we should become the change we wish to see in the world is most appropriate for how we need to move forward as Democrats and Republicans. By working together in a bipartisan manner to fight our common enemies of unemployment and financial hardship, we will become the change we wish to see..."

Gandhi's most effective use of civil disobedience included calling on Indians to boycott goods made in England, thus striking a blow at the economy of the British empire which had moved manufacturing out of the subcontinent to England. He advocated that Indians give up silk and chiffon and wear only khadi — a hand spun coarse cotton that they could make at home.

A defiant Gandhi protested a salt-tax by the British by getting Indians to make their own salt. In the famous Salt March of 1930, he walked 241 miles from Sabarmati to Dandi to make salt. Thousands of Indians joined him on this historic march to the sea.

"Even then, it was all about the economy," Chivukula (D-Somerset) said. "Perhaps the best tribute to Gandhi is how he was described by one of the smartest men of our time - Albert Einstein who said that he believed Gandhi's views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time..." Chivukula concluded.

In the week that Indian-Americans observed the martyrdom of Gandhi, they also celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Republic of India.

Assembly Speaker Oliver, Assemblymen Chivukula, Cryan, Greenwald and Wisniewski and Senator Kean sponsored a resolution honoring the nation of India and friendship between people of the world's two largest democracies. The measure also recognized Dayal for his contribution to strengthening ties between Indian-Americans, members of the New Jersey Legislature and administration and representatives of the Indian government.

Indian-Americans are part of the Asian-American community which constitutes 7.5 percent of the total population of New Jersey.

— ANDY LAGOMARSINO, NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM