Australia Prime Minister condemns desecration of Gandhi statue unveiled by him

Melbourne: An attempt was made to desecrate the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Melbourne a day after it was unveiled by the Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.

Morrison said in a statement on Sunday that he was “devastated to hear that the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Australia Indian Community Centre in Rowville, Victoria has been vandalised after it was unveiled on Friday”.

The Australian PM was trenchant in his criticism. “Australia is the most successful multicultural and immigration nation in the world and attacks on cultural monuments will not be tolerated. It is disgraceful and extremely disappointing to see this level of disrespect. Whoever is responsible for this has shown great disrespect to the Australian-Indian community and should be ashamed,” he told the local South Asia Times.

This is the first statue of Gandhi in Victoria and was donated by the Government of India.