Washington: The statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Washington DC has been defaced by a group of ‘ Khalistani elements’ on Dec 12, Indian officials said on Sunday.
The statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Plaza in front of the Embassy was defaced by Khalistani elements, on 12 December 2020,” the Indian Embassy in Washington said in a statement.”The Embassy strongly condemns this mischievous act by hooligans masquerading as protesters against the universally respected icon of peace and justice,” it said.The Embassy has lodged a strong protest with US law enforcement agencies and has also taken up the matter with the US Department of State for an early investigation and action against the culprits under the applicable law.
Khalistani separatists draped their flag around the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in front of the Indian Embassy in Washington on Saturday to show their support for the farmers protesting against the farm laws in India, as per reports.
The incident occurred when a large number of farmers in India, mainly from Punjab, are protesting for the past couple of weeks against three agricultural laws passed by the Centre in September. It is feared by the ruling party politicians that the Khalistani groups could have infiltrated that protest though so far nothing has been proved.Several rounds of talks have been held between the farmers’ representatives and the government over the past few days, but the deadlock persisted.
