Manchester unveils statue of Mahatma Gandhi
A statue of Mahatma Gandhi was erected outside Manchester Cathedral.
Last updated 25th Nov 2019
The bronze statue was created in light of the 150th anniversary of Gandhi's birth with the intention of promoting peace and non violence.
The project is sponsored by the Kamani family in memory of their grandfather Bhanji Khanji Kamani.
The unveiling event was attended by many with an outdoor concert to accommodate the day.
However, the project has received mixed views from different groups in the Manchester community.
The Decolonise Network from the University of Manchester have released an open letter titled '#GandhiMustFall' calling for the statue to be taken down.
The letter outlines the Network's views that they would like the Manchester Council to acknowledge Gandhi's "Anti-black racism and complicity in the British Empire's actions in Africa."
The open letter further outlines their views that Gandhi, "saw himself as a fellow-colonist, theorising Indians as a superior race, which he called 'Indo-Aryan' in an explicit reference to white supremacist logic."
They put forward three requests; "The Council acknowledge Gandhi's anti-black racism and apologise for trying to erect a statue." To "reverse the decision to erect the statue." and to "redistribute these funds instead to commemorate a black anti-racist activist with connections to Manchester."
In contest to this, the Indian Society of the University of Manchester have stated that they are "deeply concerned" about the Decolonise Network's letter.
In their own letter, they said; "As Indian students at the University of Manchester, we have immense respect for the father of our nation and from our perspective, Mahatma Gandhi has been a symbol for peace, non violence, anti-colonialism, resistance and resilience."
The society stated that they "respect the freedom of though and expression of all students" and understand that different groups are entitled to different views.
They also questioned the '#GandhiMustFall' letter and it's accusations of links between the statue and the actions of the current Indian government. They ended with;
"We urgently request that the authors of the #GandhiMustFall letter to amend the contents establishing links between the Gandhi statue and actions of the current government."