Gandhi statue campaign ‘a distraction’ from Black Lives Matters 

The statue of the Indian Leader has been at the centre of fierce debate

Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe says a campaign to remove the statue of Mahatma Gandhi risks being a distraction to the Black Lives Matter movement.

A 6,000 name petition is calling for the sculpture of the Indian leader and civil rights campaigner to be taken down from the plinth in Belgrave Road where it has stood since 2009.

The petition was launched after a statue of Bristol slaver Edward Colston was toppled during a recent Black Lives Matters protest and dumped in the city’s harbour.

The organisers of the Gandhi statue petition said he was a “fascist, racist and sexual predator” who brought “inconsolable suffering” to millions of people during the partition of India before his assassination in January 1948.

That has enraged many people from the Indian community in Leicester East.

Labour’s Ms Webbe, who was elected in December, told LeicestershireLive: “I stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests here in Leicester and across the UK.

“I will continue to support all those across the world who are safely and peacefully protesting systems of racist oppression.

“I believe that the calls to take down the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Leicester are a distraction from this crucial movement.

“I recognise that, like many people of his era, Gandhi said and did some questionable things in his life. Yet Gandhi was part of creating a historical anti-imperialist movement in the same way that Martin Luther King created a ground-breaking civil rights movement.

“His form of peaceful protest, like Black Lives Matter today, was a powerful force for change.

“The difference between a statue of Gandhi and statues of slavers such as Edward Colston, is that there is no reasonable debate that Colston – who derived his wealth from the murderous slave trade – is a morally defensible figure to be memorialised.

“The same cannot be said for Gandhi, who remains a hero to many of Leicester’s Asian community and to millions across the world.”

Ms Webbe spoke out on the issue of the Gandhi statue after her predecessor as MP Keith Vaz arrived with city councillors and community volunteers to throw up a symbolic human ring around the piece of art.

Mr Vaz, who stood down as an MP after more than 30 years representing his city constituency prior to December’s General Election, had vowed to “defend it personally”. Speaking to Leicestershire Live , he said: “It is shameful that people have made threats against this statue and petitioned to have it removed.

“It is an iconic monument in our city – Mahatma Gandhi was an inspiration for Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

“He was a peacemaker and changed the lives of millions – to accuse him of racism is deplorable.”

The statue was privately funded but the city council has said will consider the petition to have it taken down.

Claudia Webbe MP is the member of Parliament for Leicester East. You can follow her at www.facebook.com/claudiaforLE and twitter.com/ClaudiaWebbe