Zeack News

Prasun Sonwalkar

London, Jun 17 : Mahatma Gandhi's imposing statue arrived in the British town of Leicester where it will be officially unveiled on June 26 near a busy road passing through the hub of Asian business and culture.



The east Midlands city of Leicester has a large Indian-origin population and despite opposition by a section of the local community, the city council last year cleared the proposal of local charity organisation Samanwaya Pariwar to install Gandhi's statue.



The seven-and-a-half-feet bronze statue, depicting Gandhi walking with a stick, has been created by Kolkata-based sculptor Gautam Pal and has been recently shipped to Britain.



The statue has now been lowered on to the plinth at the corner of Belgrave Road and Donaldson Road. Until its opening, the statue will be protected by a wooden fence and tarpaulin, officials said.



Jitendra Acharya, spokesman for Samanwaya Pariwar, said: "I am ecstatic and delighted that we have got to this point on what has been a long road. The statue was flown in last week from India and was stored in a warehouse in Leicester until now. We wanted it installed as soon as we possibly could." The proposal to install the statue has been largely welcomed but there is considerable opposition within the local population, who say that Gandhi did not have any links with Leicester and that the statue of a local hero would be more appropriate. Ze