UK Chancellor Sajid Javid will unveil plans to commission a new coin commemorating Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi on Thursday.
Javid will make the announcement at the GG2 Leadership Awards later today where he is being named the most influential Asian in Britain for the second year in a row.
At the event he is expected to say, "When you become Chancellor, you also become Master of the Mint"
"And being literally in charge of the nation's coins is not an opportunity I'm going to pass up. So I can announce that I've asked the team at the Royal Mint to bring forward proposals for a new, commemorative coin of Gandhi.""Tonight we're rightly celebrating the phenomenal success of the British Asian community. But Gandhi taught us that power doesn't just come from wealth or high office. We must always remember the values he lived his life by and that our parents brought with them when they arrived here all those years ago".
Javid will reportedly use the platform to call on all sides of Britain's current political divide to learn from Gandhi and reflect on the need for tolerance and humility in the turbulent climate of Brexit.
As culture secretary, Javid also initiated in 2015 the erection of a statue of Gandhi in Parliament Square.
The coin will mark the 90th anniversary of Gandhi's final visit to the UK seeking Indian independence, ultimately won in 1947.
Mahatma Gandhi was an educator, campaigner and advocate of Indian independence, as well as a fervent voice for nonviolence as the means to achieve political ends. He employed these tactics against the British Empire, who ruled India at the time, garnering support from the Indian population against colonial rule.
