New Delhi: A pro-Khalistan group vandalised a Mahatma Gandhi statue in Brindisi city, in south Italy.
The miscreant wrote controversial slogans related to slain Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar at the base of the bust.
The deplorable incident assumes added significance as it was carried out just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Italy to participate in the G7 Summit.
The PM was scheduled to inaugurate the bust later this week.
The 50th G7 summit, from June 13 to 15, will be held in the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia, in Fasano located in Italy’s Apulia region.
Fasano is around 50 km from Brindisi, where the vandalism took place.
Indian authorities have taken up the issue with their Italian counterparts, said Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra who assured that necessary action has been taken.
Vani Rao, India’s ambassador to Italy, said Italian authrotoes have been asked to trace the culprits.
“The Italian local authorities have taken action to clean up the pedestal of the bust. We have also taken up our concerns with them immediately. We have requested them to locate those who are responsible and take action against them under the local law,” said Rao.
Last year, Khalistani extremists had vandalised a statue of Gandhi at a university campus in Canada’s British Columbia province.
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