Mahatma Gandhi statue defaced with pro-Khalistan graffiti in Ontario | World News

In a recent spate of such incidents, Canada’s Mahatma Gandhi statue was defaced and spray-painted Pro-Khalistan and Anti-India Graffiti.

The vandalism occurred in the early hours of Thursday near City Hall in the town of Hamilton, Ont. A statue of the Mahatma has been there since 2012.

The six-foot-tall bronze statue, donated by the Indian government, was doused with paint and graffiti around its base, including insults to Gandhi himself and attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to a video of the vandalism minister. The flag of Khalistan is also hung on the cane held by the statue.

Also read: Khalistan supporters shine again at Indian mission in London

The vandalism was discovered early in the morning and the city quickly removed the statues and graffiti. Hamilton Police confirmed to the Hindustan Times that they had received a complaint in this regard on Thursday afternoon and were investigating.

In February, a Hindu temple in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) was desecrated with anti-India and pro-Khalistan spray paint on the back wall, the fourth such incident in eight months. The target of the vandalism was Shri Ram Mandir in the town of Mississauga in the Greater Toronto Area.

The Gauri Shankar Mandir in Brampton was similarly desecrated on January 30. It follows the defacement of the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Vishnu Mandir in Richmond Hill last July. The 20-foot-tall bronze statue is located in the temple’s Peace Park. A few weeks later, in September, vandalism occurred at the main entrance of BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Toronto.

None of the incidents has resulted in any arrests so far. While some have linked them to the so-called Punjabi referendum organized by the separatist group Sikhs for Justice or SFJ, Canadian law enforcement has yet to establish such a link.

As in previous incidents, some visibly pro-Pakistan people shared on social media a video of the incident apparently taken on the night of the vandalism.

The events in September led India to issue an official diplomatic communiqué known as a Note Verbale to Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry.

And even that wasn’t the first time Mahatma statues have been targeted in North America. One such statue was decapitated in New York last February, while another was vandalized in Davis, California, in January 2021.