30 September,2009 10:57 AM IST | | PTI
More than four years after a bust of Mahatma Gandhi was donated to a city in South Africa, it is yet to be installed at its proposed site where the great Indian leader was thrown out of a train in 1883.
The bust was handed to the city of Pietermaritzburg, 80 km north of here, amid much fanfare in June 2005 by Indian spiritual leader Sri Satpal Maharaj after the Gandhi Rainbow Peace Walk.
It was intended to serve as a perpetual reminder of the day in 1883 that then young lawyer Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was physically booted off a train at Pietermaritzburg station while enroute to Johannesburg because he was in a compartment designated for Whites only.
At the time, Maharaj proclaimed the incident with Gandhi as a historic event that had massive consequences for South Africa, India and the world.
The bust, by Indian artist Manas Paul, was a joint donation from Maharaj and Amrita Rawat, the then Minister of Energy in the Uttaranchal state in India. But now it has been reported that the bust is in a municipal storage area as the city and a community organisation has not yet been able to finalise plans for its installation.
The chairman of the Gandhi Memorial Committee in Pietermaritzburg, David Gengan, confirmed that the bust was being stored at the City Hall because renovations were taking place at the railway station.
Gengan said his Committee had plans to establish a Gandhian museum at the station owing to its historical significance. "There were also discussions around the possibility of renaming the railway station, possibly to bear the name of the leader," he said.
"Discussions with the South African government and the Railways Ministry are continuing as the committee seeks funds for the project," Gengan said.
