Martin Luther King III to meet Anand Sharma today

New Delhi, Feb 16 (ANI): US civil rights leader Martin Luther King III will meet Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma here today.

On Sunday, an American delegation visited Rajghat, the memorial to the Father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

Naming Mahatma Gandhi as the greatest human being of all times, Martin Luther King III termed this visit to India as a rare honour.

"As the son of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, I have had this opportunity to pay tribute to the greatest human being that ever worked on our planet. Fifty years ago, my father and mother came to this country and spent about 30 days," said Martin Luther King III.

Candidly, he admitted that he was greatly inspired by the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi.

Prominent American civil right activists and lawmakers including John Lewis, Congressman Spencer Bachus, Andrew Young and legendary jazz musician and Grammy winner Herbie Hancock are part of the delegation.

The delegation is on a 12-day trip to India to retrace the steps of Martin Luther King Jr., who came to India to study Mahatma Gandhi.

The delegation will travel around major locations associated with Mahatma Gandhi.

The members of this delegation linked the election of Barack Obama as the US President to the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and leadership of Martin Luther King Jr.

"The teachings of Gandhi, the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr, have liberated and freed hundreds and thousands of citizens in the USA," said John Lewis, civil rights icon of the United States.

Further, he said that peace in the world could only be attained when people follow the path shown by Mahatma Gandhi.

The present delegation will also visit Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad from where Mahatma Gandhi had started the 322 kilometers long march known as the 'Dandi Yatra' as a mark of protest against tax levied on salt by the British in 1930.

Martin Luther King Jr. had visited India between February 10 and March 10 in 1959, and the month long tour to primary places associated with Mahatma Gandhi had left a positive impact for his crusade in the US. (ANI)