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Foundation to prepare Gandhi's statues inventory
Gandhi?s statues are being installed in large number in various cities of the US and Canada, reports Lalit K Jha.
The Gandhi Foundation US, based at Atlanta, Georgia has decided to prepare an 'inventory' of statutes and busts of Mahatma Gandhi in the United States.
Such a decision has been taken by the Foundation so as not to lose count of the increasing number of busts and statutes in the US and Canada. The Foundation was established on October 26, 1997 to propagate the teaching and philosophy of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
The Foundation executive director, Giri Raj Rao, told HindustanTimes.com: "Teachings and philosophies of the Mahatma have been gaining popularity over the past one decade in the US and Canada. As a result, people have been installing his statue or bust all over the region. So we have decided to prepare and publish a detailed inventory of it."
Recollecting that the first statue of Gandhi he came across in North America was in Mexico City in 60s, Rao said it was now being installed in a large number of cities in this part of the globe.
"Atlanta, Toronto, New York, Chicago, Washington, San Francisco and New England are a few important places to honour the greatest apostle of peace and non-violence. Mahatma Gandhi was also the guiding force for the famous civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Not to miss is the one at Houston in Texas, installed in October 2004" Rao said.
Rao said the Foundation came to known about the installation of Gandhi statue in large cities, but at times it missed those of smaller cities. "Thus, we felt the need to prepare an inventory of Gandhi statue for North America," he said.
Giving details of some of the important Gandhi statue in the US and Canada, Rao said the one in Atlanta was installed on January 24, 1998 at the prestigious Dr. Martin Luther King National Historic Site.
The status was donated by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in collaboration with the National Federation of Indian American Associations and the Embassy of India in Washington. "The statue here is in a federal park, a rare thing in the US," Rao observed.
The prestigious Union Square in New York was selected as the place to install Gandhi statue due to its history as a center for nonviolent protest. Sculptored by Kantilal Patel, it was unveiled in 1986.
In Washington DC the Gandhi statue is opposite Indian Embassy at Massachusetts Avenue and Q Street. The 9 feet tall bronze statue perched atop granite and surrounded by Gandhi quotations was unveiled by the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in September 2000.
Unlike the majority of the Gandhi statues sculptured by renowned Ram Sutar, this one was created by the Calcutta sculptor Gautam Pal. The statue of Mahatma Gandhi is also installed in the Peace Garden of the city of Fresno in California.
Located in MacArthur Square near the Milwaukee County Courthouse, the Gandhi statue was dedicated in 2002. A Gandhi statue right in front of the Honolulu Zoo in Hawaii was unveiled way back in 1990.
In down Houston, Texas, a statue donated by the Indian Centre for Cultural Relations was installed at the popular Hermann, visited by millions of tourists every year, on October 2, 2004. The success of the project is largely attributed to the efforts of the India Cultural Centre.
In June 2002, a $ 1.2 million (more than Rs. 50 lakh) statue of Mahatma Gandhi along with Martin Luther King was unveiled at the City square of Denver Colarado.
In Canada too, the number of Gandhi statutes have been increasing fast, Rao said.
The India-Canada Cultural Association was mainly instrumental in installation of Gandhi statue in City of Saskatoon in 1999. Other major Canadian cities Toronto and Vancouver too have statutes of the Mahatma.
The Peace Park in front of the Hindu temple of the Voice of the Vedas Cultural Sabha at Richmond Hill, north of Toronto in Canada has a 20-foot bronze statue of the Mahatma. In 2000, the India Canada Association of Sudbury donated the Gandhi bust to Laurentian University.
In August 2004, the life-size statue of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights at Winnipeg. A border town near the US-Canada border, Winnipeg has substantial Indian population.
