London: Mahatma Gandhi was not particularly welcome in Britain during India’s struggle for independence, but the former colonial power now has a giant statue of him right across their seat of government, alongside a statue of Winston Churchill, who once derided him for “posing as a (half-naked) fakir.”
Today, British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted a picture of the nine-foot bronze statue in London’s Parliament Square. The statue, that will be unveiled on Saturday, has been funded by donations of over a million pounds to the Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust, headed by Labour Party peer Meghnad Desai and his wife Kishwar Desai.
Exactly a hundred years ago, Mahatma Gandhi came back to India from South Africa to begin his non-violent struggle for India’s independence from British rule. “Mahatma Gandhi is not just an inspiration to Indians or British-Indians but an inspiration to the whole world,” British Finance Minister George Osbourne told media last July, when announcing the decision to install the statue.
That sentiment is certainly a far cry from the emotions Gandhi invoked in Winston Churchill, Britain’s World War II Prime Minister. Not many people feel like Churchill did any more. “The British empire did need taking on,” said a bystander in Parliament Square. “It couldn’t have remained the way it was in the early 20th century and something had to be done. And the way the Mahatma did it was really inspiring as far as I am concerned.”
Mr. Desai told media that Britain ought to be given credit for now recognizing Gandhi. “He was a thorn in their side but I think they recognised that he is a man of integrity. I think that has to be noticed today in the kind of effort they are putting out for the unveiling, with the Prime Minister himself going to be there.”
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who arrived in London on Friday, will be attending the inauguration of the Gandhi statue tomorrow.
