Non-violence preacher Gandhi a racist?
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 04 October 2010, 23:33 IST
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Non-violence preacher Gandhi a racist?
San Francisco: Gandhi is the man who is identified for his powerful weapons - truth and non-violence. But in San Francisco a group of activists advocating for minorities in India want to remove his statue alleging racism and sham non-violence, reports John Cote from the San Francisco Chronicle. The bronze statue was erected in a plaza at the Ferry Building in 1988. Since then, vandals or souvenir hunters have removed Gandhi's glasses four times, but no one until recently has demanded the statue of one of the world's most admired men be removed. "The popular image of Gandhi as an egalitarian pacifist is a myth," Bhajan Singh, a member of the Organization for Minorities of India, said in a statement. "We plan to challenge that myth by disseminating Gandhi's own words to expose his racism and sham nonviolence." Singh and his colleagues say Gandhi's political views are responsible for the oppression of Indian Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other minorities. P.J. Johnston, Head of the City Arts Commission, said he expects Gandhi to remain where he is. "I would just say that in my professional career, I've had no greater honor than having to defend Gandhi," according to Johnston, a Professional Crisis Manager. In Flint, Michigan, a statue of Gandhi was unveiled on his 141st birth anniversary on Saturday in a "peace garden" on the University of Michigan-Flint campus.

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