Statue of Mahatma Gandhi (San Francisco)


Mohandas K. Gandhi is a 1988 bronze sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi sculpted by Zlatko Pounov and Steven Lowe. It is located in the plaza to the northeast of the San Francisco Ferry Building along the Embarcadero in San Francisco, California, United States. The tall sculpture is mounted on a block which bears a plaque, raised on two steps. It was a gift from the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation.

Reception

The statue was dedicated by Art Agnos, the Mayor of San Francisco, on October 3, 1988. A similar statue by the same sculptors, Pounov and Lowe, was unveiled under a banyan tree in Kapiolani Park in Honolulu in 1990.
msnbc.com contributor Chris Rodell wrote that the sculpture of Gandhi, a "renowned vegetarian", was appropriate for the plaza, being the site of a weekly farmers' market.
In 2010, a group called the Organization for Minorities of India, which formed to protest the oppression of Indian minorities, demanded the removal of the sculpture, claiming Gandhi was a racist "who harbored violent urges".
The sculpture is a known target for vandalism; the eyeglasses are the most-stolen item, and the staff has been broken on several occasions.