Toronto: In the recent episodes of targeting Mahatma Gandhi's statues at the Canadian universities, India has flagged the issues to the Canadian government.
The move came after the statue of Mahatma Gandhi was vandalised a few day back at a university campus in Burnaby, according to the Indian Consulate in Vancouver. The incident which occurred last Monday.
The Hindustan times reported, India’s High Commission in Ottawa has communicated this concern to Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry, a senior Indian official said.
Four days earlier, on March 23, a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, located at the City Hall in the town of Hamilton in Ontario was defaced and anti-India and pro-Khalistan graffiti spray-painted near its base. That incident is being investigated by Hamilton Police’s Hate Crime Unit.
In July last year, another statue, located at the Vishnu Mandir in Richmond Hill, was also defaced. The 20-foot tall bronze statue was situated in the temple’s Peace Park.
The vandalism had drawn a sharp reaction from India’s consulate in Vancouver, as it tweeted, “We strongly condemn the heinous crime of vandalising the statue of harbinger of peace Mahatma Gandhi.”
The university had also condemned the incident, “We are deeply disappointed that someone would do such an act. Vandalism of any kind is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” it said in a statement.
The bust has been a fixture at the campus since 1970, and was created at the Fine Arts Studio of the Wagh Brothers in Mumbai.
The Ram Mandir in Mississauga, Canada was vandalised in February this year. Sikhs for Justice, a banned terrorist organisation with US bases, has taken responsibility for that attack.
Statues of the Mahatma have been targeted in the US as well. In February last year, one was discovered decapitated in New York, while in January 2021, another was vandalised in Davis, California.
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