Mahatma Gandhi statue vandalised in US by unknown miscreants
Unknown miscreants have vandalised, damaged and ripped from the bottom a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in a park within the US state of California, stunning and outraging Indian-People throughout the nation, who’ve demanded that the officers examine it as an incident of hate crime.
The 6-ft tall, 650-pound (294 kg) bronze statue of Gandhi, within the Central Park of the Metropolis of Davis in Northern California, appeared to have been sawed off on the ankles and half its face was severed and lacking, native Davis Enterprise day by day reported.
The vandalised statue of Mahatma Gandhi was discovered by a park worker within the early hours of morning of January 27, the police mentioned.
The statue is being eliminated and can be saved in a protected place till it may be evaluated, mentioned Davis Metropolis councilman Lucas Frerichs. Investigators are nonetheless not sure of when precisely the statue was torn down or what the motive might have been, The Sacramento Bee reported.
“Seeing because it’s a cultural icon to a portion of the individuals in Davis, we’re taking it very critically,” Deputy Chief Paul Doroshov of the Davis Police Division was quoted as saying by the day by day.
The statue of Gandhi, which was donated by the Indian authorities to the town of Davis, was put in by the town council 4 years in the past amidst protests from anti-Gandhi and anti-India organisations.
Organisation for Minorities in India (OFMI), which spearheaded these protests and opposed the set up of the statue. The Metropolis of Davis had nonetheless voted to go forward with the set up. Since then OFMI had launched a marketing campaign to take away the Gandhi statue.
Indian-People have expressed deep anguish and shock on the incident.
“An environment of hatred was being created by many anti-India and hinduphobic radical organisations like OFMI and different Khalistani separatists for a few years now,” mentioned Guarang Desai of Pals of India Society Worldwide (FISI).
“They haven’t solely run hate campaigns towards Indian icons however have been on the forefront of makes an attempt to push hinduphobia and erase India from California faculty textbooks,” Desai mentioned.
In 2016, the OFMI was a part of a marketing campaign to take away the mentions of ‘India’ from the sixth and seventh grade California faculty textbooks and change them with ‘South Asia’. After large protests from dad and mom and college students, the California Division of Schooling had dropped the controversial adjustments.
Appalled on the desecration, the Hindu American Basis (HAF) has demanded that the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) examine the incident as a hate crime.
“We condemn this cowardly desecration and name upon the Division of Homeland Safety and FBI to research this hate crime, because it was seemingly completed with the intention of intimidating the Indian American neighborhood,” mentioned HAF California Advocacy Director Easan Katir, a former member of the Davis Enterprise and Finance Fee.
“We urge native police to apprehend the perpetrators and name upon the town council to resurrect the statue as a press release that such damaging acts are usually not in concord with our neighborhood requirements,” Katir mentioned.
“Make no mistake” HAF mentioned in a tweet “this isn’t about legacy of Gandhi as an individual, however about intimating India and Indian People.”
The Vandalism Was Praised On Twitter By A Professional-Khalistan Group In California, Who Shared Photographs Of The Destroyed Statue, And Others Who Said “Right now Is A Good Day.”
This isn’t the primary time a statue of Gandhi has been desecrated. In December 2020, Khalistani-supporters had desecrated a Mahatma Gandhi statue in Washington, DC in entrance of the Indian Embassy.
Additionally Learn: President, PM Modi pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his demise anniversary
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