The Indian Relief Act of 1914 in South Africa

 

The Indian Relief Act of 1914 in South Africa

தென் ஆப்பிரிக்க பாராளுமன்றத்தில் இந்தியர்களுக்கான சட்டவிதியான The Indian Relief Act of 1914 நிறைவேற்றப்பட்ட தினம் ( 26 ஜூன் 1914).

முன்னதாக இச்சட்டத்தின் வடிவாக்கம் மகாத்மா காந்திக்கும் தென்னாப்பிரிக்க General Jan Christiaan Smuts க்குமிடையில் Gandhi-Smuts agreement ஒப்பந்தம் என்ற பெயரில் 14 ஜனவரி 1914 ல் கையெழுத்தானது.

இச்சட்டமானது தென்னாப்பிரிக்காவில் வாழும் இந்தியர்கள், குடியுரிமை பெறவும், வியாபாரம், தொழில் நிறுவனங்கள், இறக்குமதி ஏற்றுமதி துவக்கவும், இந்தியத் திருமணப்பதிவு, இந்திய இந்து, இஸ்லாமிய மதம் சார்ந்த சடங்குகள் மற்றும் இந்தியக் கலாச்சாரங்களை உள்ளடக்கியதாகும்.



26. June 1914 in South Africa's Indian History
"Today 26.06.(1914 ) 2025 marks the day when the Indian Relief Act of 1914 was passed in the South African Parliament (June 26, 1914).
Prior to this, the drafting of this act was signed as the Gandhi-Smuts agreement between Mahatma Gandhi and South African General Jan Christiaan Smuts on January 14, 1914.
This act included provisions for Indians living in South Africa to obtain citizenship, start businesses, import and export, register Indian marriages, and practice Indian Hindu and Islamic religious ceremonies and cultural traditions."



“… I am not worthy to stand in the shoes of so great a man”

Jan Smuts’ history is well documented but let me share something that is less known about the man himself.

It’s a common misconception that Jan Smuts and Mahatma Gandhi’s relationship was one of animosity. It is a little known fact that both men actually respected each other, remaining life long admirers of one another.

Gandhi tried, at all times, to look for the positive in Smuts and said of him that he had a “high place among the politicians of the British Empire and even of the world”.

Rather famously, when Gandhi finished his work in South Africa and left with his wife in July 1914, just before he departed, he sent General Smuts a gift of a pair of sandals he made himself.

Gandhi had learnt to make sandals at Tolstoy Farm, a cooperative colony he set up near Johannesburg, from which he ran his campaign of satyagraha (non-violence).

Jan Smuts wore the sandals every summer at his farm, next to the town of Irene, and then returned the sandals to Gandhi on Gandhi’s seventieth birthday, remarking:

“I have worn these sandals for many a summer, even though I may feel that I am not worthy to stand in the shoes of so great a man”.

Smuts went on to say:

“It was my fate to be the antagonist of a man for whom, even then, I had the highest respect”.

A replica of the sandals can be found at the Constitution Hill Museum in Johannesburg.  Appropriately and oddly enough a statue of Jan Smuts stands just opposite a statue of Mahatma Gandhi on Parliament Square in London, in recognition of two world visionaries and their impact in the development of the modern political sphere.

Courtesy: https://samilhistory.com/2017/04/14/i-am-not-worthy-to-stand-in-the-shoes-of-so-great-a-man/

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