A life-sized bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi was vandalised in a New York City neighbourhood on Saturday, an act strongly condemned as ‘despicable’ by the Consulate General of India.
The statue was donated by the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation, and was dedicated on October 2, 1986 to mark the 117th birth anniversary of Gandhi.
The 8-foot-high statue, located in Manhattan’s Union Square, was defaced by some unknown persons on February 5, the Indian consulate said in a statement.
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The statement said that the consulate condemned the vandalism in strongest terms and has taken up the matter with local authorities and the US State Department.