Hand-crafted in India from a single piece of stone, the statue was gifted to New Jersey by Shantaben Maneklal, Paul Patel, and Raj Patel, all of whom are residents of Secaucus and are associated with the city’s Swaminarayan Temple.
Gandhi, born in India, was renowned by the international community for preaching and practicing civil disobedience without violence. Those who supported the placement of the statue in Secaucus felt that Gandhi’s messages of peace transcend race and religion. One teacher and Secaucus resident, Doug DePrice, said at an earlier event discussing placement of the statue:
Gandhi died in 1948, a year after his country won its independence from Great Britain.
“In light of today’s world tensions […] Gandhi’s life and image stand as a torch to the goodness of human nature, and that we have a collective responsibility to live in partnership and stewardship with and for all.”
Michael Gonnelli, Mayor of the town, said that he had received some resistance from a small number of people, but that he felt compelled to “do what’s right” by accepting and dedicating the statue.
Sponsorship from the event came from the Sadhu Vaswani Center of New Jersey, as well as the Humane Society of the U.S.