Keeping up with the practice of vandalising India’s national and cultural symbols, Khalistani activists have defaced a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Canada.

The vandalization took place in the early hours of Thursday, near Hamilton’s City Hall, located in Ontario province. Gandhi’s statue had been positioned there in 2012.

Video footage of the vandalism showed that the six-foot-tall bronze statue had been covered in paint and defaced. The graffiti insulted Bapu and also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi with an offensive remark. Besides, a Khalistan flag was fixed to the walking stick that was part of the statue.  The Hindustan Times quoted the Hamilton Police as saying that a complaint about the incident had been received on Thursday afternoon, and this had triggered an investigation.

This is not the first time that Gandhi’s statue has been vandalised in North America. Last February, Gandhi’s statue was beheaded in New York. Another statue of Gandhi had been targeted in Davis, California.

Canada has a history of Khalistani activists targeting Hindu temples. In February, the Shri Ram Mandir, located in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), was desecrated.

The same fate befell the Gauri Shankar Mandir in Brampton on January 30. In September last the entrance of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Toronto in September of the same year was also desecrated.

Dependent on critical political support from pro-Khalistan outfits such as the New Democratic Party (NDP), the Trudeau government has so far made no arrests.

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