Gandhi’s memorial desecrated
WHY desecrate Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial monument?
That was the question posed by Gandhi’s granddaughter, Ela, after reports that some of his ashes were stolen and his portrait defaced at the Bapu Bhawan memorial in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh state, India.
The incidents happened last Wednesday when the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi was commemorated.
At the weekend, Ela led a petition, during a conference at the Phoenix Settlement, the home of Gandhi, to commemorate the birth anniversary.
“People have the right to disagree. Freedom of speech is a good thing to come to whatever conclusion one wants to make, but why desecrate Gandhi’s ashes? That kind of behaviour is simply violent.”
BBC.com reported that the police confirmed to its reporter that they were investigating the theft on the grounds of actions “prejudicial to national integration” and potential breach of the peace.
Indian news website TheWire.in quoted a caretaker for the memorial site, Mangaldeep Tiwari: “I opened the gate of the Bhawan early in the morning because it was Gandhi’s birthday. When I returned at around 11pm, I found the mortal remains of Gandhi missing and his poster was defaced. This is shameful.”
A case was reportedly opened by Gurmeet Singh, the leader of the local Indian Congress political party. He encouraged the police to use CCTV footage close to the memorial to identify the culprits.
In a report on the New York Times’ website (nytimes.com), they quoted other police officials in Rewa – that the act could have been “an inside job”.
This was due to there being no signs of a break-in and the thick green paint used to deface Gandhi’s picture was believed to be used by workmen at the memorial.
According to the Times report, Chanchal Shekhar, Rewa’s inspector general of police, said detectives were “taking writing samples from the memorial workers to see if they matched the scrawl found on Gandhi’s picture”.
Shekhar reportedly told the Times that reports of there being a missing urn from the site were “still unclear”.
Ela said she did not have official clarity on the matter.
She said she was aware of the anti-Gandhi sentiment in India and South Africa.
“There is a worldwide movement that wants to condemn Gandhi, and I would like to know from these people why are they doing this? They may feel Gandhi was racist, and this is found on unfounded reasoning, in my opinion. You cannot condemn a person on one or two statements they made and ignore all the other work they have done.”
The petition was signed by local and international guests from Africa, the UK, the US and India.
“Everyone agreed that the perpetrators (in the defacing of the memorial) were not just condemning Gandhi, but they were also condemning non-violence. We sent the petition to press houses in India, the government of India, and the Consul General of India in Durban.”