New York, February 18 – Jesse Jackson was ranked among the civil rights and anti-racism icons, including his mentor Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, who were inspired by Mahatma Gandhi.
In his keynote address at an event commemorating the 60th anniversary of the martyrdom of the prophet of Satyagraha in 2008 in New Delhi, Jackson said that Gandhi was the "spiritual godfather" of leaders like him.
Jackson, who died on Tuesday, was a civil rights advocate in the US, continuing the peaceful struggle that King used to achieve breakthroughs, which also benefited Indian immigrants.
M.R. Rangaswami, the founder of Indiaspora, in a condolence post, recalled telling Jackson, "The Indian community owes a lasting debt to the African-American community. The courage and sacrifice that led to the Civil Rights Act also made immigration reform possible, opening America's doors to people of color, including many of us!"
Speaking about the eternal relevance of Gandhi in New Delhi, Jackson said, "Even 60 years after his martyrdom, his dreams of democracy, peace, and human rights are still alive. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King were dreamers who marched to a different beat and heard a different sound."
Jackson emphasized that Gandhi's "dreams for democracy, decolonisation, human rights, and his quest to end barbaric enmity based on class, tribe, race, and gender, have continued to inspire."
Jackson hailed Gandhi's impact on history, saying that "because of his vision and inspiration, most of Africa, Asia, South, Central, and Latin America, and the Caribbean have been decolonised in the last sixty years – most of the world's people."
"Nuclear war and greed remain our threats (but) non-violence and Satyagraha, the soul force, remains our therapy, and the only window from which the peace we seek is possible," he said.
Jackson also recognized the contribution of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to India's freedom struggle and decolonisation.
During a visit to Kolkata in 2014, he visited Netaji Bhawan and wrote in the visitors' book, "Gandhi plus Bose equals Liberation."
In Kolkata, he spoke at the Indian Institute of Management about the potential of globalisation to improve the world and everyone.
He said that the concept of "foreigner" should be replaced with ideas of common international rules that lead to economic justice.
Explaining his idea of internationalism, he said that it was based on the "Save the House" principle: If the house is on fire, it would be futile to try to save one's own room, and everyone has to unite to save the whole structure.
During his unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1984, he cited the example of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who, he said, "can run India, a nation of 600 million people" to make his case for nominating a woman as his running mate.
Jackson's daughter, Santita, said that this led to the eventual Democratic Party candidate, Walter Mondale, nominating Geraldine Ferraro as the vice presidential running mate, the first time a woman found a place on a major party's slate.