A resolution recognising Mahatma Gandhi's [Images] influence on Martin Luther King Jr and commemorating the golden jubilee anniversary of American civil rights leader's visit to India has been introduced in the US House of Representatives.

The resolution urges Americans to commemorate the impact that King's trip to India in 1959 and his study of Gandhian philosophy had in shaping the Civil Rights Movement and creating political climate necessary to pass legislation to expand civil rights and voting rights for all Americans.

"The trip to India impacted Dr King in a profound way, and inspired him to use non-violence as an instrument of social change to end segregation and racial discrimination in America throughout the rest of his work during the Civil Rights Movement," it says.

Introduced last week by Congressman John Lewis, the resolution has been referred to the House Committee on Judiciary. Lewis is often called "one of the most courageous persons the Civil Rights Movement ever produced."

It has been co-sponsored by five others Congressmen, John Conyers, Jim McDermott, Robert C Scott, Henry Johnson and Adam B Schiff.