FASANO (Italy): Indian ambassador to Italy, Vani Rao, said that vandalisation of Mahatma Gandhi’s bust occurred in Brindisi, a town in southern Italy, and local Italian authorities took action to clean up the bust.
Vani Rao said, “So the incident was in a town called Brindisi, which is in southern Italy. But after that, you know, the Italian local authorities have taken action to clean up the bust”.
Further, she also stated that the Indian authorities have immediately raised their concerns with the Italian authorities, requesting them to find and take action against those responsible according to local laws. “And we have also taken up our concerns with them immediately. We have requested them they locate those who are responsible and take action against them under the local law”, said Indian ambassador to Italy.
#WATCH | On a statue of Mahatma Gandhi vandalised in Italy’s Milan allegedly by pro-Khalistani elements, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra says, “…We have seen the reports of that and we have taken it up with the Italian authorities. We understand that a suitable… pic.twitter.com/9TTYzViRvv
— ANI (@ANI) June 12, 2024
On Wednesday, the MEA also addressed the issue of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue vandalization by pro-Khalistani terrorists. India has taken up with Italian authorities the matter concerning the “vandalization” of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue by pro-Khalistani elements following reports in the media, the External Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday while noting that “a suitable rectification has taken place.”
“We have seen the reports of that and we have taken it up with the Italian authorities. We understand that a suitable rectification has already taken place,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said on Wednesday at a special briefing, responding to questions.
This is not the first time that Mahatma Gandhi’s statue has been vandalised in a foreign country. Last year, in a similar incident, a statue of Mahatma Gandhi was vandalised on the Burnaby campus of Simon Fraser University in Canada’s British Columbia province in March.
This was the second such incident to be reported in Canada. The first incident was reported near City Hall in the town of Hamilton, in the province of Ontario. A similar incident of vandalism of a Mahatma Gandhi statue was reported at Vishnu Mandir in the area of Yonge Street and Garden Avenue in Canada in July 2022, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported, citing York Regional Police.
In January 2021, Mahatma Gandhi’s statue was vandalised in Davis, California, US. It was a gift to the City of Davis by the Government of India in 2016. (ANI)