Dr M Hari Krishna, the Special Secretary to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, has highlighted the relevance of Buddha’s teachings in creating a peaceful world during his visit to an exhibition titled 'Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India, 200 BCE–400 CE' at The Met Museum in New York. He stressed that Buddha's principles of non-violence inspired Ashoka the Great to give up wars and influenced Mahatma Gandhi's approach to non-violence and civic disobedience against Britain, as well as the American civil rights movements led by Dr Martin Luther King Jr.