Gandhi Jayanti function in Beijing shifted to Indian embassy premises after denial of permission

The celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary, which is held every year since 2005 at a public park in Beijing, was shifted to the Indian Embassy premises in the last minute on Wednesday after the Chinese government denied permission to hold the event, Indian Embassy officials here said.

However, no explanation was given by the Chinese authorities as to why the permission was not given, they said.

For the last 14 years, Gandhi Jayanti celebrations were held at the picturesque Chaoyang park after a statue of India's Father of the Nation sculpted by famous Chinese sculptor Yuan Xikun was installed there.

The popular public park has the only sculpture of Gandhi in China.

Every year the Indian Embassy along with Yuan, who is also the curator of the Jin Tai art museum located in the same park, organises the October 2 event.

Surprisingly, this year the permission was not received though it has been applied well in advance like every year, the embassy officials said.

The event was shifted to the embassy auditorium after the Museum informed the Mission that the event cannot be held in the absence of the permission. The embassy officials who were surprised by the delay had to make alternate arrangements in a hurry to shift the function to the embassy premises, they said.