Mahatma Gandhi’s bust unveiled by EAM Jaishankar and UN chief Guterres at UN headquarters

PTI

United Nations, December 14

Mahatma Gandhi finally arrived at the United Nations headquarters, as India gifted a bust of the Indian leader to the world body, the first sculpture of the Mahatma to be installed here.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres inaugurated the bust of Gandhi on Wednesday at a sombre ceremony at the North Lawns of the United Nations, marking the arrival of the Mahatma at the world body’s headquarters during India’s Presidency of the powerful 15-nation Security Council for the month of December.

President of the 77th session of the General Assembly Csaba Korosi was also present on the occasion.

The Gandhi bust, a gift from India to the United Nations, is made by renowned Indian sculptor Padma Shree awardee Ram Sutar, who has also designed the ‘Statue of Unity’.

Jaishankar arrived here Tuesday to preside over two signature events on counter-terrorism and reformed multilateralism being held under India’s current Presidency of the UN Security Council, before the curtains come down this month on the country’s two-year tenure as elected member of the powerful 15-nation.

The bust is the first Gandhi sculpture installed in the UN headquarters, which proudly displays gifts and artifacts from around the world.

Notable works of art at the UNHQ include a section of the Berlin wall donated by Germany, Soviet sculpture ‘Let us Beat Swords into Ploughshares’, life-size bronze statue of Nelson Mandela gifted by South Africa and the ‘Guernica’ tapestry after the painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso.

The only other gift from India on display at the UN Headquarters is an 11th century black-stone statue of ‘Surya’, the Sun God, donated on July 26, 1982.

The statue, dating from the late Pala period and which is currently displayed in the Conference Building, was presented as a gift by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to the UN. Then Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar had accepted the sculpture on behalf of the United Nations.

Underlining the significance of the event, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj had said Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy of non-violence and peace is enduring and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that “this is not an era of war” speaks to that very legacy and has been widely accepted by the world.

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