Sister of deceased Arun Gandhi hosts memorial service in S Africa

Johannesburg, May 2 (PTI): The sister of Arun Gandhi, who died on Tuesday in Maharashtra after a brief illness, hosted a memorial service for him at the Phoenix Settlement in South Africa started in 1904 by their grandfather Mahatma Gandh.

Sister of deceased Arun Gandhi hosts memorial service in S Africa

Johannesburg, May 2 (PTI): The sister of Arun Gandhi, who died on Tuesday in Maharashtra after a brief illness, hosted a memorial service for him at the Phoenix Settlement in South Africa started in 1904 by their grandfather Mahatma Gandhi.

The memorial service was held at the same time that his funeral was taking place in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Arun was the son of Manilal Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi's son who returned to South Africa at his father’s request in 1917 to continue his work at the Phoenix Settlement, north of Durban.

Arun, who was born at the Settlement, passed away aged 89 at an ashram he had established for disadvantaged young girls in the village of Kolhapur in memory of his wife Sunanda Gandhi.

“Being very strong on women empowerment, Arunbhai created an ashram caring for orphan girls. He had been celebrating Maharashtra Day with the people in that village when he struggled to breath in the early hours of the morning and passed on surrounded by the people in the Ashram,” Ela Gandhi, Arun's sister, told PTI.

At the memorial service, extracts were read from Arun’s books on his experiences growing up with his grandfather. Arun’s niece Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie, a retired historian, recalled how Arun had lost his South African citizenship many decades ago after the minority white apartheid government refused to allow his wife, an Indian citizen, into the country.

“In 1956 he left South Africa to immerse his father’s ashes in India. He subsequently was unable to return to South Africa as he married an Indian citizen and South African apartheid laws would not allow his wife and children into the country," Dhupelia-Mesthrie said.

“He worked as a journalist for the Times of India. He subsequently settled in America in the late 1980s where he founded the Mahatma Gandhi Institute in Memphis and later Rochester. He became a much sought-after speaker in America and across the world and spread his grandfather’s philosophy of non-violence,” Dhupelia-Mesthrie said.

Arun also started the Gandhi Legacy tour which introduced people to the major sites that Gandhi was associated with in India and South Africa.

“He also published several books on Gandhi and drew on his personal experiences to educate children about Gandhian values. He was a trustee of Phoenix Settlement,” Dhupelia-Mesthrie added.

Ela said her brother was keen to establish a museum in Mumbai with his vast collection.

Arun Gandhi is survived by his sister Ela, his son Tushar Gandhi, daughter Archana Prasad and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. PTI FH NSA

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