The Eternal Gandhi Peace Center and Museum Opens in Atlantic City

Published by New Jersey Stage
11/18/2022

(ATLANTIC CITY, NJ)  /PRNewswire/ -- The Eternal Gandhi Peace Center and Museum located on North Arkansas Ave in Atlantic City, is the first museum in the United States dedicated to recounting Mahatma Gandhi's life. A project such as this was the dream of Mr. Bhadra Butala, the Founder and Grand Patron of the Gandhian Society of New Jersey and this was finally fulfilled in collaboration with the Aditya Birla Group and their Chairperson Mrs. Rajashree Birla. Her passion to remember the Mahatma has resulted in the Eternal Gandhi project spearheaded by Mr. Nitin Mathuria, the President of the Aditya Birla Group, with similar interactive museums across the world, in Delhi, Birmingham and Bhubaneswar, India. The museum will be managed by Atlantic City Youth Enrolled at Ideal Institute of Technology.

The digital installations of the exhibit consist of interactive screens, videos, and audio commentary, sometime in the voice of Gandhi himself, that highlight the timeline of Gandhi's life. One exhibit offers the opportunity to listen to Gandhi's radio broadcasts. Avery realistic and life-sized statue of Gandhi kneeling, holding thread to a weaving mechanism, sits at the entrance of the museum, which many passersby thought was real.

The museum, next to the Adidas store at the Tanger Outlets, is overseen by Ren Parikh a resident of Atlantic City since 2000 and founder of the Ideal Institute of Technology, a vocational school aimed to teach teens and young adults about alternative work options and a school that uses an "earn while you learn" approach. "The community should feel like they have a place to go," said Ren Parikh. A place of peace and learning about truth and non-violence. There are no costs to visit the museum, no membership fees, and a place to promote conflict-resolution and communal harmony in Atlantic City.

The Grand Inauguration on October 30th was attended by about 200 guests and inspiring speeches were given by Chief Guests, Atlantic City Mayor, Mr. Marty Small Sr. and The Consul General of India (NY) Shri Randhir Jaiswal who inaugurated the Museum. The Gandhian Society Chairwoman, Dr Asha Samant presided as MC for the wonderful event which included a beautiful rendition of the US and Indian national anthems by classically trained playback famed singer Varsha Joshi. An inspiring speech was given by the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Mr. Arun Gandhi, a famed octogenarian, who gave examples of his encounters with his grandfather and father of the Nation when he was growing up. The event also included an opening video address by Mrs. Rajashree Birla all the way from India and a speech by Mr. Nitin Mathuria who had earlier in the afternoon given a preview round of the Museum's various exhibits and introduced the museum and its various aspects. All the sponsors were recognized at the event and including the Grand Marshal and sponsor, Atlantic City's own resident, Dr Bhavin Patel a practicing dentist.

Rowena Madden, the Commissioner, NJ, for the Martin Luther King, Jr Commission also gave a speech and elaborated on the Martin Luther King and his inspiration from Gandhi. The museum also features Martin Luther King, Jr and will also document his life.

The event also included a beautiful Indian classical dance, Odissi, by the well-known dancer Bani Ray and concluded with delicious Indian vegetarian dinner.

The Director of the museum, Ren Parikh also said that having the museum in Atlantic City makes sense as we don't have anything other than casinos and it would only help with the mind set and issues that the city faces like gun violence and poverty.