Union minister Ramdas Athawale launches ‘Mangal Maitri’ peace campaign from Babasaheb Ambedkar samadhi in Mumbai | Mumbai News – Times of India

MUMBAI: A day after G20 Summit ended with declaration of establishing peace and amity, Union minister Ramdas Athawale launched peace campaign “Mangal Maitri: Desh Mein, Videsh Mein” from Babasaheb Ambedkar’s samadhi Chaitya Bhoomi in Dadar, Mumbai on September 11.
Aimed at spreading the message of peace and led by peace activist and Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis Memorial Committee, Mumbai chairman Rajendra Jadhav, the Mangal Maitri campaign will first visit five holy places of five different communities in India.
Later the campaign will take the message of love, peace and harmony to the resting places/samadhis of five globally-recognised human rights champions.
These are Babasaheb Ambedkar (India), Mahatma Gandhi (India), Dr Kotnis (China), Nelson Mandela (South Africa), Martin Luther King (America).
“This is a noble cause for which Rajendra Jadhav must be congratulated. We need Buddh (Gautam Buddha), not yudha (war),” said Athawale in his own inimitable style. Jadhav who has been associated with Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis Memorial Committee and has also written a pictorial biography of Dr Kotnis who had given his life serving the Chinese army during the second Sino-Japanese war in 1938 said that spreading peace is his life’s mission.
“I am engaging with like-minded people to spread the message of peace. There could not have been a more appropriate place than Babasaheb Ambedkar’s samadhi which is called Chaitya Bhoomi in Dadar, Mumbai to start the journey. Before visiting samadhis of other four great gentlemen and great human souls—Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King—I am planning to visit Lumbini (birthplace of Buddha), Varanasi (holy city for Hindus), Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Dargah in Ajmer (great Muslim Sufi saint), Golden Temple in Amritsar (holy place of Sikhs) and a famous Church in Goa (holy place for Christians),” said Jadhav.
When asked who will fund his trips to these places, both in India and abroad, he said: “Money does not become a hindrance if you are committed to a cause. There are some good Samaritans who will ensure that I fulfil the dreams of visiting the final resting places or samadhis of these great human beings who were also champions of human rights and global peace,” said Jadhav who had received, on behalf of the Kotnis Memorial Committee, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Friendship Award from Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 19, 2014.
“We will complete 10 years of that award very soon and may have an anniversary celebration too for this,” he said. The awardees were: Dr Dwarkanath kotnis family, the Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis Memorial Committee, the Department of Chinese Language and Culture (Cheena Bhavan) at the Visva-Bharati University and the India-China Friendship Association.