Manchester University students are calling for plans to build a Mahatma Gandhi statue in the city to be scrapped because of his “anti-black racism”.
The city council approved a 9ft bronze statue of the Indian independence figure to be erected outside Manchester Cathedral to promote peace following the 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack that killed 22 people.
But a group of students are calling for the council to reverse its decision due to Gandhi’s “well-documented anti-black racism and complicity in the British Empire's action in Africa".
In an open letter, the students demanded a statement acknowledging his “racism”, an apology and to reverse the decision while redirecting funds to commemorate a black anti-racist activist.
The group says that Gandhi "saw himself as a ‘fellow-colonist', theorising Indians as a superior race".
It adds: "In 1905, Gandhi appealed to laws asking Indians to fight against the amaZulu, and collected funds to finance the execution of Black people fighting for self-determination and the right to their homeland.
"These actions and thoughts are of course not documented in his autobiography, but they are well documented throughout his earlier correspondence and writings."
The letter was posted under the hashtag #GandhiMustFall, which was previously used during efforts to remove a similar statue at the University of Ghana.
The statue was donated to the city by the Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur, a spiritual mission based in Gandhi’s ancestral homeland of Gujarat, to “spread a message of peace, love and harmony.”
Gandhi is known around the world for his non-violent campaign for Indian independence and was nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In a statement, a Manchester City Council spokeswoman told the Standard: “The statue of Gandhi has been gifted to the city of Manchester by the Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur.
"Although we are aware that there is some debate about Gandhi’s life, most people in the city will see the statue in the context in which it was intended – to spread a message of peace, love and harmony.”
But, in the letter, the students reference his “lesser-known” ideologies and call on the city to instead “stand in solidarity” with Manchester’s black and Kashmiri communities.
They wrote: “Gandhi referred to Africans as ‘savages', ‘half-heathen Natives’, ‘uncivilised', 'dirty' and 'like animals', to reference only a few of his vile comments.
“He saw himself as a ‘fellow-colonist’, theorising Indians as a superior race, which he called ‘Indo-Ayran’ in explicit reference to white supremacist logic.
“In 1905, Gandhi appealed to laws asking Indians to fight against the amaZulu, and collected funds to finance the execution of Black people fighting for self-determination and the right to their homeland.
“These actions and thoughts are of course not documented in his autobiography, but they are well documented throughout his earlier correspondence and writings.”
It continues: “We demand that Manchester City Council refuse to be complicit in this, especially given the city’s history of anti-racist action, and to stand in solidarity with Manchester’s Black and Kashmiri communities.”
One of the authors of the letter, Union Liberation and Access Officer Sara Khan, further explained the stance, tweeting: “Erecting a statue of Gandhi will only promote his racist & anti-black ideology, & legitimise continued violence in Kashmir.”
The statue is due to be erected on November 25.
