Gianforte, Indian diplomat unveil Gandhi bust at University of Montana

Gov. Greg Gianforte on Tuesday joined India's consul general on the University of Montana campus to unveil a bust of Mahatma Gandhi, a gift from the diplomat to the Treasure State.

Consul General Prakash Gupta said it is custom for his team to gift a statue of Gandhi, who led a nonviolent independence movement to free India from the British in 1947, to surrounding states when it opens a new regional office. Gupta has operated from the Seattle consulate since 2023.

"We have been able to get a very, very special relationship going with Montana across a wide range of sectors, whether it's education, culture, whether it's people-to-people ties, or whether it's trade," Gupta said to the crowd gathered on Tuesday at the Mansfield Center Library on campus. Tuesday marked his sixth trip to Montana, he said.

The governor called the statue a "meaningful gift" and said Gandhi's steadiness and discipline resonates in Montana.

"We are a state of doers, whether it's a farmer in the field, a small business owner on Main Street, a researcher in a lab or a student pursuing their dreams and their future," Gianforte said. "Our relationship with India continues to grow from agriculture and energy to bio science and advanced technology."

Tony Brockman, officer of international relations at the Montana Department of Commerce, is scheduled to visit India next week to explore market opportunities there.

Deena Mansour, the executive director at the Mansfield Center, said the setting was ideal for the bust given Mike Mansfield's place as a pre-eminent expert on Asia while in Congress. Mansfield, a Democrat from Montana, was also the longest serving Senate Majority Leader and most tenured U.S. Ambassador to Japan.

Mansfield traveled to India in 1944 and again in 1962, Mansour said; the second instance was on behalf of President John F. Kennedy.

"A particular interest in his report to the President was his respect for the choices of India's leaders to chart their own course," Mansour said. "And it is in that spirit of understanding that we're honored to accept this bust of Gandhi."