The Consulate General of India in New York urged appropriate action against those responsible for the “despicable act”.
The statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Central Park in the City of Davis, California was vandalised by unknown persons last month. (Photo: ANI)
Shock and disappointment were triggered among the Indian-American community on Saturday after a life-sized bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi, located in Union Square near Manhattan, was vandalised by some unknown people.
The act was strongly condemned as ‘despicable’ by the Consulate General of India. “The Consulate condemns this act of vandalism in the strongest terms,” the Consulate General of India in New York said, adding that the matter has been taken up with local authorities and the US State Department for immediate investigation. The consulate urged appropriate action against those responsible for this despicable act.
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The eight-foot-high statue was donated on October 2, 1986, by the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation to mark the 117th birth anniversary of Gandhi.
Incidentally, the statue was removed in 2001, conserved and reinstalled in a landscaped garden area in 2002.
Similarly, last month some unknown miscreants vandalised, broke and ripped from the base another statue of Gandhi in a park in the US state of California. The statue, installed by the city council four years ago amid protests from anti-Gandhi and anti-India organisations, was donated to the city of Davis by the Indian government.
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