A bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Italy was allegedly vandalised by Khalistani extremists on Wednesday, news agencies reported. The reports also said that the vandals also wrote controversial slogans related to Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar at the bust’s base.
The incident comes days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to travel to Italy to attend the annual summit of G7 advanced economies in his first trip abroad after assuming office for the third straight term.
Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said the Indian authorities raised the matter before Italian officials and that necessary actions were taken. Local authorities said the area was cleaned up in ‘record time’, news agency Times of India said.
“We have taken up the issue of vandalisation of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue with the Italian authorities. Necessary action has been taken,” Kwatra was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
PM Modi is expected to leave for Italy on June 13 and will return late on June 14. However, there is no official announcement on Modi’s visit to Italy yet.
He will likely be accompanied by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and NSA Ajit Doval.
Along with attending the summit he will also hold a number of bilateral meetings including with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Modi had attended the previous G7 summit in Hiroshima in May last year.
The G7 summit, to be held in the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia in Italy’s Apulia region from June 13 to 15, is likely to be dominated by the raging war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are among the top leaders attending the summit.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also scheduled for a session on the Russian invasion of his country.
The G7 comprises the US, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan.
Italy is holding the current presidency of the G7 (Group of Seven) and is hosting the summit in that capacity.
Besides India, Italy has invited leaders from 11 developing countries in Africa, South America and the Indo-Pacific region to attend the summit.
Though the European Union is not a member of the G7, it attends the annual summit.
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