Life-sized statue of Mahatma Gandhi vandalised in Australia; PM Morrison terms it 'disgraceful'

Melbourne, Nov 15: Days after unveiling the life-sized bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi, it was vandalised in Melbourne. The incident has been condemned by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Indian-Australian community in strong words.

The statue gifted by the Indian government was unveiled on Friday by PM Morrison along with the Consul General of India Raj Kumar and other Australian leaders as part of a celebration of 75 years of India's Independence, The Age newspaper reported.

"It is disgraceful and extremely disappointing to see this level of disrespect," Morrison was quoted as saying in the report. He said that such attacks would not be tolerated in a multicultural country and multi immigration nation in the world. "Whoever is responsible for this has shown great disrespect to the Australian Indian community and should be ashamed," he added.

Somewhere between 5.30 pm on Friday and 5.30pm on Saturday, an unknown number of offenders used a power tool to decapitate the statue, Victoria Police said as per ABC News. The police have appealed for witnesses to give information about the incident.

Expressing its shock over the incident, the Indian community said, "The community is very shocked and sad. I don't (understand) why anyone would do such a low act of vandalism," Surya Prakash Soni, president of the Federation of Indian Associations of Victoria, was quoted as saying in the ABC report.

He said the Rowville centre was the first Indian community centre in the State of Victoria and had been established after 30 years of effort.

Australia India Community Charitable Trust chair Vasan Srinivasan said that it saddens him that someone tried to vandalise the statue within 24 hours of its unveiling.

"They were trying to cut the head off by grinding around it," he was quoted as saying by SBS News. He said that there are almost 300,000 Indians living in the state of Victoria and "I never expected this thing could happen in Victoria." Srinivasan said that police could not get any fingerprints because it was raining heavily throughout the day. PTI