Malawi Court Halts Construction of Gandhi Statue

A court in Malawi has stopped the construction of a Gandhi statue after a group filed a petition accusing him of using racial slurs during his time in Africa.

According to media reports, more than 3,500 people signed up the petition stating, “Being black people ourselves, such remarks [racial slurs allegedly used by Gandhi] have invited a sense of loathing and detestation of Gandhi,” AFP reported. The petition was arranged by ‘Gandhi Must Fall” group who cited 18 grounds against the construction.

“As citizens of Malawi born out of black African descent, we are appalled with Blantyre City Council’s decision to erect Gandhi’s statue at Ginnery Corner, Blantyre, Malawi,” the petition read.

“When it comes to Gandhi, we cannot deny that he is of historical importance to India and to the world as a symbol of activism. However, Gandhi has a questionable background and character for Malawi to honor him with a statue,” it read.

On Oct. 31, judge Michael Tembo ordered that the construction be halted “until the hearing of the substantive matter.”

India is funding the construction of the statue in Blantyre, Malawi’s commercial capital, as part of a $10 million project in which a concert hall will also be named after him.

Petitioners “Gandhi Must Fall,” said that “Gandhi (while in South Africa) went on to fight for the idea that Indians were superior to Africans and thus could not be bundled together.” In addition to that, Gandhi said “Africans were “Kaffirs,” a racial slur to denigrate Africans during the colonial times. The word Kaffir is now a banned word in South Africa because of its racial connotations, the petition noted.

Pemphero Mphande, spokesperson of “Gandhi Must Fall” wrote in Facebook, “Gandhi was a prejudice against black people while in South Africa between 1894 and 1914.”

Foreign Ministry official Isaac Munlo earlier defended the construction saying, “Gandhi promoted values of simplicity, fight against social evils,” AFP said in an earlier report. “Gandhi is a role model of a human rights campaigner for both Africa and India.”

Indian Vice President Venkaiah Naidu was scheduled to inaugurate the statue on either Nov. 4 or Nov.5.

Tracing back the relation between Malawi and India, the report said that the two countries have had political ties from 1964 and even today, New Delhi is one of the biggest donors for the country.

Earlier this year, over 50 percent of the 900 people who took part in a survey, conducted by the Greater Dandenong’s city council in Australia, said no to the proposal of installing a life-size bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi. The proposal to put up the statue, floated by the Federation of Indian Associations of Victoria (FIAV), was rejected in a survey conducted among the local population.