GIIP celebrates 20th annual Mahatma Gandhi Day Event in Honolulu

Dr. Raj Kumar, Founder of Gandhi International Institute for Peace

Los Angeles/Sep 19, 2025
NRIpress.club/Ramesh/ A.Gary Singh

The Gandhi International Institute for Peace will host its 20th annual event outside of the Honolulu Zoo in Kapiolani regional Park to commemorate the 156th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi on Thursday, October 2, 2025, a day designated by the United Nations in his honor as the “International Day of Nonviolence” in June 2007.  The program will run from 5 PM to 6:30 PM. The Consulate General of India, San Francisco and the City and County of Honolulu are the co-sponsor of this program. Hawaii State Senator, Honorable Mike Gabbard will serve as the Guest of Honor.

This event will feature a spiritual invocation and Hawaiian blessing by Dr. Kahu Kaleo Patterson and Veda Das. There will also be brief addresses by a variety of Hawaii-based advocates of nonviolence including Dr. Raj Kumar, Professor Ramdas Lamb, Professor Abdul Karim Khan from the University of Hawaii, Kusha Devi Dasi from ISKCON Hawaii and Dr. Jared Yurow, a former Chief Clinical Officer from the Department of Health, will deliver brief address.

Dr. Raj Kumar, Founder of Gandhi International Institute for Peace (GIIP) in Hawaii, laid the foundation of this Institute on the day when the Twin Towers were attacked by terrorists in New York on September 11, 2001. Since then, Dr. Kumar and members of this Peace Institute have been raising awareness about peace and nonviolence and educating youth about Gandhian values, planting a seed that will manifest itself as they develop into the leaders of tomorrow, resulting in a safer place to live for future generations. On behalf of GIIP, Dr. Kumar initiated Senate Bill SB 332 in the Hawaii Legislature in December 2014 which was unanimously passed on April 9, 2015, making Hawaii the first State in the nation to officially declare October 2 as “Mahatma Gandhi Day”.

Mahatma Gandhi introduced to the world the concepts of ahimsa (nonviolence) and satyagraha (holding firmly to the truth).  These principles and his constant striving for religious harmony, social justice and eternal truth, raised the consciousness of millions of Indians. In 1947, when Gandhi went on a fast until death in Calcutta, India, to stop the riots in the city between Hindus and Muslims, killings actually stopped.

The Salt March of 1930 in India, is one of the best-known acts of peaceful resistance. Under British colonial rule, Indians were taxed for salt.  British declared that making or collecting salt from the ocean was illegal.  Since salt is necessary for survival, this issue affected each and every Indian. They considered this law unjust and morally wrong.  Gandhi organized a 241-mile march across Western India to the city of Dandi in Gujrat where he collected salt, illegally. He started the march only with only 78 people.  But as the marchers proceeded thousands more joined.  Weeks later, his unarmed followers marched to a government salt depot, where they met violent retaliation by police, hence it drew worldwide sympathy.

Fortunately for humanity, Gandhi’s legacy did not die with him.  Instead, his influence extended far beyond India’s borders and inspired two generations ranging from Martin Luther King Jr. to Nelson Mandela, to follow his path in their struggles for justice and freedom.

Presently, the world is in an unstable situation. It is being threatened by coronavirus, climate change, geographical changes, economic crisis due to tariff tension, drug abuse affecting the health of youth, human trafficking, children dying due to hunger and malnutrition in poor countries, gun violence, terrorism and war in different parts of the world.  All peaceful nations need to stand together and fight together against those nations who harbor, train, and protect terrorists, who perpetuate violence and war. 

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Peace will not come out of a clash of arms but out of justice lived and done by unarmed nations in the face of odds.”