University of Ghana removes Mahatma Gandhi statue at the centre of anti-racism protests
The ‘Gandhi Must Fall’ movement was started in 2016 by academics who accused the freedom fighter of racism.
The University of Ghana has pulled down a statue of Mahatma Gandhi on its campus, campus-based news outlet Radio Univers reported on Wednesday. This comes more than two years after professors and students called for the statue’s removal. It is unclear when the statue was taken down.
In September 2016, the university’s professors launched the “Gandhi Must Fall” movement, accusing the freedom fighter of supporting the caste system. They also quoted passages written by Gandhi in which he says Indians are “infinitely superior” to black Africans. Akosua Adomako Ampofo, a former director of the Institute of African Studies, led the movement.
A month after the protests started, the university had decided to remove the statue, which was unveiled in June 2016 by then President Pranab Mukherjee. The workers who removed it said they had “received an order from above” and could not say why it was taken down.
In 2013, a similar row had erupted in Johannesburg, where people had protested against Gandhi for his alleged racist remarks about black people, The Guardian reported.
