“We will speak louder and more frequently,” say South Asian minorities as they pledge to protest for statue removal

Cerritos, CA, Aug. 22, 2013 – After an unsatisfactory response from Mayor Bruce Barrows to demands for removal of Cerritos’ Gandhi statue, a coalition of local citizens invoked the 1921 murder of LA native William Doherty as further reason why Gandhi should be persona non grata in Southern California.

“After an engineer from Los Angeles was murdered in India by Gandhians because he was white, Gandhi tried to bribe the man’s wife to shut her up,” said Bhajan Singh of Organization for Minorities of India (OFMI). “The City of Cerritos has rejected our initial overtures, however, but this is only the beginning of our conversation. If they will not answer us, we will speak louder and more frequently. We are organizing locals opposed to the statue to speak at upcoming city council meetings and demonstrate on the streets so the city cannot fail to hear us.”

In a sworn deposition recorded in Los Angeles County in 1929, Annette Doherty told how her husband was set upon by a mob incited by Gandhi, stating: “On November 19th, 1921… he was set upon, his eyes were gouged out and eventually he was beaten to death by a group of rioters… Gandhi was at the height of his popularity as a saint and political leader, and had, through his violent speeches against the British, worked his followers into a frenzy of race hatred. My husband was probably mistaken for a Britisher when he was murdered by Gandhi’s followers.”

In the aftermath of her husband’s death, Annette met with Gandhi personally, which she recounts in her deposition: “Within three days following this killing of my husband, word was brought me from Gandhi that he greatly desired an interview with me… Gandhi’s emissary was Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, the Indian poetess and politician…. Her chief concern, however, was that the American public should never be allowed to hear of this outrage committed upon my husband; and she very frankly asked me my price for refraining from ever discussing or advertising the affair in America and from myself returning to America.”

She further added: “Upon this occasion of my visit with Gandhi he repeated to me in substance what Mrs. Naidu had said, but even more emphatically stressed the point that Americans, because they were so much in sympathy with him in his political views, must on no account learn the details of the murder of my husband lest it hurt the success of his movement in America and prejudice our people against him.”

Mayor Barrows’ letter tersely concludes: “Your comments have been noted.” It claims the controversial statue belongs to the Chugh Law Firm on Carmenita Road, but also states both the City Council and Fine Arts and Historical Commission approved the statue after first requiring the law firm contribute to the “Art in Public Places” program.

The statue, donated to the program in 2012, is drawing harsh censure from many local South Asian minorities who claim to suffer psychological damage from its presence. Among their detailed reasons for opposing the statue are that Gandhi promoted racial segregation in South Africa shortly before Apartheid, that he sexually abused his underage grandnieces Manu and Abha at the height of his popularity, and that he entrenched caste, a system of social division, in India. These claims are only the tip of the iceberg in the opposition’s case against the statue.

OFMI, a Central California-based human rights group, is marshaling local families and business-owners for a sustained grassroots campaign seeking legal removal of the statue. One such is Ricky Pal, owner of a Cerritos deli, who says: “This statue of a pervert does not belong anywhere.”

Mohandas Gandhi, a Hindu religious icon is worshipped as a god in temples in India, which opponents have also raised as an objection. Dr. Muni Subramani, a Las Vegas surgeon who serves on OFMI’s board of advisors, asked, “How does separation of church and state allow Cerritos to erect a statue of a Hindu preacher who is worshipped as an idol in India? He spent his life advancing Hindu ideals such as the caste system, declaring: ‘I am prepared to defend, as I have always done, the division of Hindus into four castes.’”

The caste system divides society into four major increasingly degraded levels, with the very bottom being outcastes or “Untouchables.” Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, a famous Untouchable who knew Gandhi well and is considered a civil rights icon among South Asian minorities. Ambedkar began his education at Columbia University in New York City in 1913, where he made close connections with African-American civil rights leaders like Herbert Aptheker, C. Vann Woodward, and W. E. B. Du Bois.

Drawing inspiration from the black civil rights struggle in the U.S., Ambedkar returned to India to lead civil rights movements against caste throughout the first half of the 20th century. He found his staunchest opponent in Gandhi, who said in 1932, “Caste is necessary for Christians and Muslims as it has been necessary for Hinduism.” This claim won little love from Ambedkar, who remarked: “If a man with God’s name on his tongue and sword under his armpit deserved the appellation of a Mahatma, then Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a Mahatma.” Because of his historical link to the U.S., opponents of the Gandhi statue suggest an Ambedkar statue would be a more sensible choice.

Arvin Valmuci, a coordinator for OFMI, also suggested another name. “Why not a statue of Kartar Singh Sarabha, a Californian who launched India’s independence movement? Sarabha, a young Sikh who immigrated to the U.S. in 1912 at the age of 17, attended U.C. Berkeley, founded the nation’s first Punjabi-language newspaper, returned to India to fight for independence from the British, and was hung at 19. Why would Cerritos choose a statue of a prejudiced and abusive Hindu preacher with no connection to America over a young Californian who died fighting for freedom?”

The Nobel Prize Committee apparently agreed with many of claims against Gandhi, as they rejected him all five times he was nominated — in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and 1948. In a 1999 article explaining the reasons for this, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wrote: “The Nobel Committee adviser referred to these critics in maintaining that he was not consistently pacifist, that he should have known that some of his non-violent campaigns towards the British would degenerate into violence and terror.”

The article also quotes Professor Jacob Worm-Müller, who noted: “One might say that it is significant that his well-known struggle in South Africa was on behalf of the Indians only, and not of the blacks whose living conditions were even worse.”

It seems, due to their support for the Gandhi statue, Cerritos and its City Council are destined to receive a history lesson on the struggle for human dignity halfway around the globe.