A massive number of Indian Americans held a community vigil at a city park in California, where unknown miscreants vandalised a statue of Mahatma Gandhi last week.

Addressing the vigil at the Central Park, Gloria Partida, the Mayor of the City of Davis, deeply regretted the act of vandalism and said, "Vandalism will never be condoned. Gandhi is our inspiration and we will not allow this. Not on our watch."

A bronze statue of Gandhi in the Central Park of the city of Davis in northern California was vandalised on the Republic day, following which The vigil was organised by the Indian Association of Sacramento (IAS), along with other Indian-American and Hindu-American organisations.

Speaking at the peace vigil at the park, Shyam Goyal, retired professor, University of California at Davis and a member of Gandhi Statue For Peace Committee, expressed deep shock at the act of vandalism and said, "Mahatma Gandhi is inescapable in the world today in order to solve our problem in a peaceful and non-violent way."

A group of radical Khalistani separatists-led "Organisation For Minorities In India" (OFMI) shouted obscene slogans against Gandhi and tried to disrupt the peace vigil.

They demanded that the statue not be restored. Nanak Bhatti of the OFMI, who was part of the protest at the park, said the city of Davis did not deserve the Gandhi statue and asked "why was the statue put there in the first place?"

The organizers of the vigil said Khalistani separatist organizations, led by the OFMI and its leaders Bhajan Singh Bhindar and Pieter Friedrich, had been demanding that the Gandhi statue be removed from the park ever since it was installed by the city of Davis in 2016.

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