Rajmohan Gandhi and Rep. John Lewis during Gandhi's visit to DC for book launch

Rajmohan Gandhi read excerpts from Gandhi, The Man, His People and the Empire, his new biography of Mohandas Gandhi, to more than 100 people gathered at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Gandhi said one of his most powerful memories of his grandfather was the friendly way he responded to those hostile to his ideas.

“When you see wrong, do something about it, but also consider whether you have some responsibility for it. Fight, but turn the searchlight inwards.”

Rajmohan Gandhi said this was his grandfather’s message for our times as he read excerpts from his new award-winning biography, Gandhi, The Man, His People and the Empire (University of California Press, 2008), for an audience of approximately 100 people at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on 7 May. The event was organized by IofC and the National Press Club's Book and Author Committee.

Gandhi, whose involvement with IofC dates to the 1950s and includes service on the International Council, emphasized his grandfather’s refusal to treat even his strongest opponents as enemies. He recalled how, as a small boy at his grandfather’s last interfaith prayer meetings, he had been struck by the friendly responses Mohandas Gandhi gave to angry and confrontational Hindus who felt he was too close to the Muslims.

Gandhi’s biography is the first to provide a fully balanced account of the Mahatma’s life, the development of his beliefs, his political campaigns and his complex relations with his family. At the reading, Gandhi explored such diverse matters as the Mahatma’s relationship with Winston Churchill, his attitudes toward the untouchables and his final acquiescence to the partition of the subcontinent, which he had long opposed.

Following the reading, NPC past President John P Cosgrove produced a surprise: a 78-rpm recording of Gandhi giving a rare talk in English. The original, brought from India by journalist Alfred Wagg in the late 1940s, now resides in the National Archives. Rajmohan Gandhi said this new discovery was a significant addition to the record of Gandhi’s life.

Accompanied by his wife, Usha, Gandhi included in his visit a stop at the George Washington University Law School, where he offered a comparative perspective of Lincoln and Gandhi, as well as a trip to the World Bank. Gandhi also met with Rep John Lewis (D-Ga.), who said 'If it hadn’t been for the spirit of Gandhi in those early years [of the civil rights struggle], we would not have made it.'