Recognizing the 140th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 603) recognizing the 140th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the resolution and yield myself such time as I may consume.

This resolution recognizes the 140th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, one of the 20th century's greatest political leaders, a devout and spiritual Hindu, and the father of India's nationalist movement.

While much has been said about the great works of Gandhi's life, it is important that we never forget that without Gandhi, the fates of what is now the world's largest democracy, India, and the oldest democracy, the United States, would likely be far different.

Mahatma Gandhi served as an inspiration for a movement that ended the rule of the British Raj and created a free and independent Indian state. I might also add, Mr. Speaker, it ended the rule of the British Empire. But of equal significance, especially to us in this Chamber today, Mahatma Gandhi inspired the American civil rights movement that hailed one of America's most remarkable social and political transformations.

By advocating nonviolence, a radical new form of resistance, Mahatma Gandhi transformed the methods used around the world to protest oppression. Mahatma Gandhi developed the term ``Satyagraha,'' meaning vindication of truth not by inflicting suffering on others but through nonviolent and patient self-suffering. He counseled humankind to ``hate the sin and love the sinner'' and urged people everywhere to ``be the change you want to see in the world.'' The late Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., became the agent, an instrument, of that change here in the United States.

In India, at a time when sectarian tensions threatened to disrupt the independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi encouraged dialogue between Muslim and Hindu community leaders, working to cool passions and put an end to religious-based violence.

Though his life was cut tragically short by an assassin's bullet, his legacy is seen in the over 1.5 billion people who inhabit the free and independent countries of the Indian subcontinent and by our own embrace of the principles of nonviolent political action, unity, and religious tolerance within the United States.

I urge all my colleagues to honor the 140th anniversary of the birth of the great Mahatma Gandhi by supporting this resolution.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to commend and thank the gentlelady from Florida, our ranking member of our House Foreign Affairs Committee, for authoring this resolution and giving remembrance to our Nation about the legacy and life of this great human being.

You know, the unusual thing about my reading about this great person, Mahatma Gandhi, was that he was a firm believer not only in the Guida, but also in the Bible. He believed in a lot of the principles that were taught by Jesus Christ in the Bible itself. And as I recall a statement of the Good Book saying, Love your enemies, do good to them who hate you, I think gives the great substance of what Gandhi had said, hate the sin, but not the sinner. And I think in the same way he tried to say to the British Empire, he loves the British people, but he did not like what the British Government was doing to his people.

I think it was at the time when he had just completed his legal studies from Oxford University that he was given an assignment to go to South Africa to help one of the Indian community people there with some of the problems.

And it was on that train ride that he purchased a first-class ticket on this train, and the porter there stopped him saying, You're not supposed to sit on that first-class trip; you are supposed to be out in the baggage area where all the nonwhite people are supposed to be sitting. And he protested and said, I bought a first-class ticket, I deserve it, and there should be no reason why I shouldn't sit in the first-class cabin on the train. And for that, he was not only beaten, but he was left to himself and the train went on.

It was in that given experience that Mahatma Gandhi said, Something is wrong here; and from there he started believing that the British colonial rule of his people just did not seem to fit right as far as the way that the Indian people were being treated by the British.

For that, Mr. Speaker, history has well spoken. I don't have the exact quote that was given by Albert Einstein that said no mortal in the last 100

years has ever been given as an example of this one human being that, by the way, the former Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, described him as a ``naked fakir,'' in very derogatory terms, I suppose, in that respect because Mr. Winston Churchill believed that the British Empire should rule for another 1,000 years perhaps.

But I must say that, yes, there is absolutely no question that the life and the legacy of this great man, Mahatma Gandhi, literally transformed even the civil rights movement here in our own country. And for good, I say, yes, absolutely, influenced people like Rosa Parks, and especially the great and the late Martin Luther King, Jr. for what he has done to transform American Society, making it better than what it was.

I would like to quote to my colleagues what Albert Einstein said: ``I believe Gandhi's views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time.''

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of House Resolution 603, a measure recognizing the 140th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. At the outset, let me express my deep appreciation to our distinguished chairman, Mr. Howard Berman, my good friend from California, for his strong support of this bipartisan resolution and to the co-Chairs of the India Caucus for their cosponsorship.

Mr. Speaker, I introduced this resolution to honor the extraordinary life and the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. The broad outlines in the life story of this remarkable human being are, of course, generally well known: his struggles as a young lawyer in South Africa for the civil liberties and the political rights of Indian immigrants; his return to India and his leadership in the long and complex struggle for home rule and then independence; and his campaign against violent communalism and terror, a struggle that ultimately cost him his life.

In the course of this journey, Gandhi believed and developed the distinctive philosophy of nonviolence. This philosophy has influenced so many great figures of world history from Nehru to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., to Aung San Suu Kyi.

Today, Cuban dissidents and political prisoners such as Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet turn to Gandhi's tenets of peaceful civil disobedience to challenge the Cuban tyranny and demand the freedom of the Cuban people.

In a world too often worked marked by violence and vast inequity, Gandhi said, ``be the change you want to see in the world.''

``Be the change you want to see in the world.'' This reminds us all of the need for personal integrity in the struggle for peaceful change and the fullest respect for human dignity.

Mr. Speaker, as we have all come to understand, the life and the teachings of this deeply philosophical and spiritual man have touched millions of people around the world. Indeed, in world affairs, the person who arguably affected change more than anyone else, more effectively than anybody else, was Mahatma Gandhi.

Mr. Speaker, ultimately, what was it about this complex and enigmatic man that made him one of the most iconic figures of the 20th century? As a recent biographer noted, fundamentally, Gandhi was a man of vision and action, who asked many of the most profound questions that face humankind as it struggles to live in a community. It was this confrontation out of a real humanity which marks his true stature and which makes his struggles and glimpses of enduring significance to us all. As a man of his time who asked the deepest questions, even though he may not have had all of the answers, he became a man for all times and all places.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge support for this resolution, and with that, I reserve the balance of my time.

To close on our side, Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentlelady from Florida.

As cochairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, I rise in support of House Resolution 603, recognizing the 140th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi.

Today, we give special remembrance to one of the most revered people of the last century. Preaching nonviolence, Gandhi dedicated his life's work to helping others. As a leader in the Indian National Congress, Gandhi led campaigns to ease poverty. He led the campaigns to expand women's rights. And of course he is remembered for his efforts to build religious amity. Above all else, however, Gandhi worked tirelessly to free his nation and helped direct India into a new era of democracy.

His methods to do this included leadership by example. It included his organizational ability. It also included peaceful civil disobedience as a tool and his power to persuade by force of argument. These were the ways in which he motivated those not only in his own nation, but around the world to this cause.

Having traveled to India during the second round of voting during India's recent election, the largest democratic display the world has ever seen, I would have to say that Gandhi himself would indeed have been proud of how far his nation has come. Under his guidance, India has become a pluralistic democracy of many religions and ethnic groups, I think probably as pluralistic as the United States. We are here today to help keep the spirit of Gandhi alive and to remember his remarkable achievements.

Before I close, I would also like to extend my best wishes to the millions of people that will celebrate Diwali this Saturday; I certainly hope it will be a joyous occasion.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 36th Anniversary of the Turkish invasion of the Republic of Cyprus. In 1974 Turkey illegally invaded the northern part of the island nation Cyprus, and that occupation continues today. As a member of the Hellenic Caucus, I recognize and support the Republic of Cyprus as the sovereign political government of the island. This position is supported by the United Nations, and since 1974, more than 75 resolutions have been adopted by the U.N. Security Council calling for the return of the refugees to their homes and properties and for the withdrawal of the Turkish troops from Cyprus.

In 2006, I cosponsored H. Res. 603, which urged the U.S. government to advocate for the immediate withdrawal of Turkish forces from the territories of the Republic of Cyprus. I will continue to support Cypriots as they seek a peaceful solution to the conflict dividing the island. It is my prayer that these two countries can find a solution to serve the best interest of all the people in the region, and one day live in peace.