“Stop the statue”
Dr Kusoom Vadgama, founder of the Indo-British Heritage Trust in the UK, seems to be prejudiced against Mahatma Gandhi ("Stop the statue,” Zoroastrians Abroad, Parsiana, September 7, 2014). She is spearheading a campaign to erect a statue of Dadabhai Naoroji in London instead of a second statue of Gandhi and has advised members of the Zoroastrian community there to do all they can to honor a man whose statue should be in Parliament Square.
There is no reason why there should be a statue of Naoroji rather than one of Gandhi. We may do everything to justify the need for a statue of Naoroji but we have no moral right to stop one of Gandhi. In support of her arguments Vadgama has made certain vague and damaging observations which, in my opinion, should not have been made as they tarnish the image of Gandhi who did not deserve such devastating disclosures.
If there is need for representation for erecting a statue of Naoroji it should not be done by members of the Parsi community but by all Indians as he was the leader of India and not only of the community. Naoroji maintained "I am an Indian first and an Indian last.”
RATAN J. DAMANWALA
Actually, Mahatma Gandhi had the highest regard for Dadabhoy Naoroji, and Naoroji for Gandhi. Gandhi, the younger man, reached out numerous times to the Grand Old Man of India to intervene politically in London on behalf of the beleaguered Indian community in South Africa. Naoroji worked hard to bring up with British officials at the highest levels the plight of Gandhi and the other Indians in South Africa. (By the way, so did Muncherjee Bhownagree, then an MP in the British Parliament.) To honor Gandhi does not dishonor Naoroji. No need to kick up an unnecessary and unseemly ruckus over this project.