More than 200,000 Indian-Americans live in the Dallas-Forth Worth metro area. In 2010 they formed an organization to erect a monument to Mohandas K. Gandhi. The Hon. Nikki Randhawa Haley, the first female and the first Indian American Governor of South Carolina and now the UN Ambassador was the guest of honor at the at the May 3rd, 2014 groundbreaking. The unveiling was on 2 October, Gandhi’s birthday. The sculptor is Burra Sai Varaprasad. The 7-foot tall bronze statue of Gandhi sits atop a 6-foot tall pedestal. On the granite wall behind it are inscribed Gandhi’s memorable words, as well as quotations from Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Albert Einstein, President Barack Obama and others. The site in Thomas Jefferson Park has quickly become the center for Indian events and celebrations in the DFW area. “There is no reason we cannot have peace and love with everyone, and one thing he (Gandhi) constantly said was if we want to truly have peace and love, we have to start with children,” Haley said at the groundbreaking.
Monday’s Monument: Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Plaza, Irving, Texas
