London: A historic bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled today at the Parliament Square here, standing adjacent to iconic leaders like Britain's war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.
A galaxy of political leaders led by British Prime Minister David Cameron and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley were joined by Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan
and the Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi at the ceremony to unveil the 9-foot statue of India's Father of the Nation.
Gandhi is the first Indian and the only person never to have been in a public office to be honoured with a statue at the Square.
The statue was unveiled jointly by Cameron and Jaitley as chants of “Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram”, a popular bhajan that was Gandhi's favourite, reverberated
in the air.
“This statue is a magnificent tribute to one of the most towering figures in the history of world politics and by putting Mahatma Gandhi in this famous
Square we are giving him an eternal home in our country,” said Cameron.
Quoting some of Gandhi's famous words, Cameron highlighted how his teachings remain as potent today.
“This statue celebrates the incredibly special friendship between the world's oldest democracy and its largest, as well as the universal power of Gandhi's
message,” Cameron said.
“Our ties with India have remained close throughout history and continue to go from strength to strength—through mutual respect as equals, cooperation and
trade, and of course through the one-and-a-half million Indians who do so much to make Britain the country it is today, bringing our two countries closer, to
the benefit of both,” he said.
Jaitley, invited to the UK especially for the unveiling, said the statue was a tribute to the British sense of civility that they now choose to honour
someone who was conventionally regarded as their adversary.
“It is a great tribute to both British liberalism and British democracy that they have now chosen Gandhi to share what is the most prominent public space in
this country. It is a great day when two adversaries and contrarian viewpoints converge to appreciate each other,” Jaitley said.
“The statue will help ensure that the legacy of Gandhi lives on for future generations. It also marks an important, historic moment celebrating the strong
bond between our two nations. India and the UK share the same values and we are a partnership of equals. This lasting friendship is just one of many legacies
left by Gandhi, which I am keen that we work hard to strengthen further,” he said.
Trivedi had a dig at Rahul Gandhi saying he has made a place in the media for “negative” reasons only prior to and after the polls and should find some
positive reasons too and is thus introspecting and will surface after “attaining wisdom.”
“We never made an issue on Rahul Gandhi's whereabouts...He is a very important person in the country but the country does not know where he is. He is an MP
but Parliament does not know where he is.
“He is the vice president of a party but his party does not know where he is and his family does not speak out. He is like one who appears in the heart of
everyone but is invisible,” he said.
The BJP spokesperson charged Congress with having a mindset of doing such snooping and thus does this kind of politics.
“The kind of mindset they have, they wish to continue to do such politics,” he said.
Congress today accused the Narendra Modi government of carrying out “political espionage” on Rahul Gandhi claiming his staff had caught a Delhi Police
official seeking “unwarranted and weird” enquiries about him.
