Mahatma Gandhi’s Statue To Be Inaugurated At UN Next Month

The first sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi to be put at the headquarters of the international organisation will be a bust of Gandhi that India will present to the UN next month while it holds the Security Council Presidency.
The bust, created by renowned Indian artist Ram Sutar, who won the Padma Shree award and also created the “Statue of Unity” in Gujarat, will be unveiled on December 14 during External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s trip to the UN to represent India’s month-long Council Presidency.
The bust will be erected in the vast North Lawns of the UN complex, according to Ruchira Kamboj, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, who spoke exclusively to PTI here.

The bust of Gandhi, a gift from India, will be the first Gandhi sculpture to be placed in the UN building, which proudly exhibits presents and relics from all around the world.

At the UN headquarters, notable pieces of art include a piece of the Berlin Wall that Germany donated, the Soviet sculpture “Let us Beat Swords into Ploughshares,” a life-size bronze statue of Nelson Mandela that South Africa donated, and the tapestry named “Guernica” after Pablo Picasso’s painting Guernica.

A black-stone statue of the Sun God from the 11th century that was donated on July 26, 1982 is the only other item from India that is on exhibit at the UN’s main building.

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 late Indira Gandhi to the UN.On behalf of the United Nations, Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar accepted the artwork at the time.

The Gandhi bust will be positioned in the North Lawn, a “very prestigious spot” on the UN headquarters grounds, according to Kamboj.
The bust will be unveiled on December 14 in the morning, and all 15 members of the Security Council as well as the five new members who will begin serving on the Council on January 1, 2023, are anticipated to attend the ceremony. The 77th session of the UN General Assembly’s president, Csaba Krösi, and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres may both attend the event.

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