I am against erecting statues in honor of or memory of public figures no matter how much their contributions to society are perceived. As time flows, more revelations emerge about them that are not either complementary to them or acceptable to the public as well. It is happening to the statues of Gandhi in South Africa, Africa and elsewhere.

By Promod Puri

Recently, it was a great feeling for me when the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol got pulled down in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd by the police in the US, which is the beginning of the fight to end RACISM.

The act was a symbolic disgrace to the man who made fortunes by selling and exporting African slaves to America. The slave trader might have contributed his ill-earned wealth to educational institutions, but his profession was inhumane and certainly not worth to be honored with a statue.

I am against erecting statues in honor of or memory of public figures no matter how much their contributions to society are perceived. As time flows, more revelations emerge about them that are not either complementary to them or acceptable to the public as well. It is happening to the statues of Gandhi in South Africa, Africa and elsewhere.

Moreover, there is always the politics of statues. That involves cashing in on the sentiments of the public by the leaders. The new mammoth statue of Sardar Patel in Gujarat state in India is an example.

Statues are expensive to build with public-funded money and are costly to maintain them daily. Otherwise, they are the perfect landing spots for birds to relieve themselves. Birds, indeed, love them, but does the public care about them in the long run.

Canada also needs to get rid of statues and street named after racist British and Canadian figures. The beginning of the end of racism starts with destroying these evil symbols and starting afresh.