The prestigious statue of Mahatma Gandhi, to be placed at Parliament Square, in London, is fast nearing completion. However, to pay for this new bronze statue, campaigners need to raise £600,000 in the coming three months. They want the statue to be unveiled by India's Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi early next year, to mark 100th anniversary of Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa. The foreign office has confirmed that an invitation for a visit has been sent.
The statue will stand a few yards to the right of Mandela's statue as you look at it, with Lincoln and the Supreme Court building in the background. It will be a 9 feet bronze statue modelled on a photograph of the Mahatma Gandhi standing outside 10 Downing Street during his last visit to London in September 1931. The sculptor is Philip Jackson, who is known for his remarkable sculpture of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, among others. The architect is Anthony Dyson. The total expenditure of the project is estimated to be £750,000.
All the statues in Parliament square are paid by public subscription. While the government of the day arranges sculptor, architect and gets the planning permission, the money for the statue has to be collected from donations by the public.
Following the success of its planning application, the charity behind the sculpture, Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust, was set up by Lord Meghnad Desai. The trustees of the charity currently includes Lord Desai himself and his journalist and author wife Lady Kishwar Desai. They are also in the process to rope in some very prominent Indian leaders as additional trustees, to attract the attention of Britain's affluent Asian community.
The charity has recently released images of the full sized clay sculpture that will be used to cast the statue. Lord Desai, founder of the Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust, said: "Gandhi is admired by people across the globe who are contributing small and large amounts to be part of this historic monument. I appeal to all who admire Gandhi to join me in this iconic enterprise by giving what they can for the Gandhi statue. Our website is www.gandhistatue.org."
Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Chair of the Gandhi Statue Special Advisory Panel said: “I’m delighted planning permission has been given for this wonderful monument to the father of the world’s largest democracy. Britain has a proud history of great figures being honoured with statues paid for by public subscription.”
After viewing the clay sculpture, along with other members of the advisory council, including Lord Meghnad Desai and Lord Navnit Dholakia, the Indian High Commissioner, HE Ranjan Mathai said: “We are really looking forward to having the sculpture of Mahatma Gandhiji in Parliament Square.”
Speaking of the statue, award winning sculptor Jackson said he chose the image of Mahatma Gandhi standing outside Downing Street in 1931, as he thought that would be most appropriate
for Parliament Square. It depicts the Mahatma contemplative, determined yet compassionate, without a stick, draped in a heavy shawl against the British climate, but bare legged.
Jackson says he went through a number of photographs and then made 'an amalgam of them to create a timeless image.'
Anyone wishing to donate towards the sculpture can visit the website www.gandhistatue.org
