UK considering minting a coin to commemorate India's Mahatma Gandhi

He would be the first non-white person to feature on British currency

epa08556844 A statue depicting Mahatma Gandhi stands at the Ariana Park in Geneva, Switzerland, 20 July 2020. As anti-racist movements taking to the streets across the world decry the public displays of statues honoring slaveholders and proponents of racist ideologies (on occasion vandalizing some of them aside from demanding their removal), Gandhi – widely lionized as a paragon of non-violent resistance and hailed as the courageous leader of a history-making decolonial movement of national liberation – has become one of the targets. The reason is found in the Indian lawyer's early writings during the time he spent living in South Africa between 1893-1914. Scholars combing through letters, government paperwork and speeches of that period have found numerous instances of disparaging, bigoted and supremacist remarks Gandhi made regarding black South Africans, including describing them as 'savages' and claiming they lived a 'life of indolence and nakedness.'  EPA/SALVATORE DI NOLFI
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Britain is considering minting a coin to commemorate India's independence hero Mahatma Gandhi.

The UK Treasury announced the move on Saturday, amid growing interest in recognising the contributions of minorities.

He would be the first non-white person to feature on British currency.

British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak asked the Royal Mint Advisory Committee (RMAC) to pursue recognition of Black, Asian and other minority individuals, the Treasury said.

"RMAC is currently considering a coin to commemorate Gandhi", the UK Treasury said in an emailed statement.

In June a statue of Gandhi in London was defaced during Black Lives Matter protests.