Mahatma Gandhi is revered across the world for his non-violent campaign for Indian independence and was nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

But plans to unveil a statue in his memory in Manchester have sparked a backlash from a student leader who claims he was a 'virulently anti-black racist'.

The 9ft statue has been donated to the city by the Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur, a spiritual mission based in Gandhi's ancestral homeland of Gujarat, following the Manchester Arena bombing which killed 22 people in 2017.

It is due to be unveiled outside Manchester Cathedral next month, to 'spread a message of peace, love and harmony'.

But Sara Khan, liberation and access officer at Manchester University students' union, who promotes herself on social media as a 'future Labour Home Secretary in the Making?', is behind a campaign to prevent the statue being erected.

A statue of the iconic leader of India's independence movement is set to be unveiled outside Manchester Cathedral on November 25th. Student activists at the University of Manchester are calling for the statue to be scrapped based on his 'well-documented anti-black racism' and 'complicity in the British Empire's actions in Africa'

Miss Khan, 22, was behind a motion at the union last year to ban clapping because it could 'trigger anxiety'.

A 'Gandhi Must Fall' campaign has now been launched in Manchester, which Miss Khan is promoting on social media.

In a letter published online, campaigners 'demand that Manchester City Council reconsider this decision on the basis of Gandhi's well-documented anti-black racism and complicity in the British Empire's actions in Africa.'

The letter - promoted by the 'Decolonise University of Manchester campaign group, which Miss Khan manages - adds: 'Gandhi referred to Africans as 'savages', 'half-heathen Natives', 'uncivilised', 'dirty' and 'like animals', to reference only a few of his vile comments.

'He saw himself as a 'fellow-colonist', theorising Indians as a superior race.'

Writing on social media, Miss Khan – elected to her students' union post for a second year running, said activists were 'calling for the Council to release a public statement acknowledging Gandhi's 'anti-black racism' and for funds to be redistributed to instead commemorate a black anti-racist activist with connections to Manchester'.

Was Gandhi racist? Historians say freedom fighter fought for rights of Indians under Boer regime, not Africans Gandhi lived in South Africa for more than 20 years, fighting for the rights of Indians oppressed by the Boer regime. His fight however did not encompass a call for the equal treatment of the country's black population. In fact historian Patrick French wrote in 2013: 'Gandhi's blanking of Africans is the black hole at the heart of his saintly mythology'. In a 2015 book two South African experts brought to light evidence of Gandhi's attitude towards the country's indigenous population, who, along with the state's large Indian contingent, were kept separate from whites. According to the book, Gandhi - who lived in South Africa from 1983 to 1914 - described his contemporary black Africans as 'savage,' 'raw' and living a life of 'indolence and nakedness'. Its authors say he campaigned relentlessly to prove to the British rulers that the Indian community in South Africa was superior to native black Africans. The book combs through Gandhi's own writings during the period and government archives. It brings to light a 1904 letter in which the Mahatma complained Indians were being forced to use the same separate entrances as Africans, meaning 'their civilised habits … would be degraded to the habits of aboriginal natives'. He went on: 'About the mixing of the Kaffirs with the Indians, I must confess I feel most strongly.' More sympathetic students of Gandhi's life say his views may have been ignorant and prejudiced but they were a product of their time. They stress his campaigns for social justice have fuelled civil rights activism in Africa and across the world. Advertisement

She added: 'Gandhi was a virulent anti-black racist.

'This statue would not promote peace but instead promote Gandhi's racist and anti-black ideology, and promote continued violence in Kashmir.'

Grammar school educated Miss Khan's proposed ban on clapping – which was to be replaced by 'jazz hands' sign language - was overturned by the university's senate.

She later called for articles run in a student newspaper which criticised her be checked by a 'sensitivity reader' prior to publication to avoid causing offence.

She also reportedly refused to take part in a women's campaign march claiming slogans used at the event discriminated against transgender people.

The Gandhi Must Fall campaign has seen his statue removed from the University of Ghana and another being defaced in South Africa - where the pacifist lived from 1893-1914.

Supporters criticise him for being a stretcher bearer for the British Empire in the Boer War as well comments he made about natives when he was living in South Africa.

But their stance – listing him alongside Cecil Rhodes and supporters of slavery - ignores the fact the horrors of carrying injured Zulus sparked Gandhi to change his views and fight colonialism.

Professor Vinita Damodaran, Indian history expert of Sussex University, said: 'This campaign focuses on Gandhi's views when he lived in South Africa and ignores everything else.

'He moved on to become a very much more humane, much more inclusive person in his later years and he redacted these views.

'It must be understood in the context of the larger legacy of Gandhi, who defended the prejudiced and fought for justice and universal human freedom.'

Gandhi pioneered non-violent protest techniques including strikes, boycotts and collective vigils that are now used by campaigners across the world.

He was also decades ahead of others in calling for 'inequalities based on possession and non-possession, colour, race, creed or sex' to 'vanish'.

Gandhi's grandson, Rajmohan Gandhi, has recognised his grandfather was 'an imperfect human being' but said protestors fail to accept Gandhi was 'more radical and progressive than most contemporary compatriots'.

One of the authors of the letter, Union Liberation and Access Officer Sara Khan (pictured) told student union paper The Mancunion that black history month was an especially important time to be shedding a light on Gandhi's 'anti-black racism' and confront the 'terrible injustices black people have faced and continue to face across the world'

A Manchester City Council spokesman said: 'Although we aware that there is some debate about Gandhi's life, most people in the city will see the statue in the context in which it was intended – to spread a message of peace, love and harmony.'

The Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur accused Miss Khan and the Gandhi Must Fall campaigners of ignorance, saying they had 'an extreme and limited interpretation of Gandhi'.

The group said: 'This call appears to diminish Gandhi's rich and complex history and his principles of tolerance, peace and unity, which is greatly needed as we strive for global cohesion and harmony.

'The application for the statue to Manchester City Council did not receive a single objection.

'It is misleading to fixate on comments made in Gandhi's early life as a lawyer under British colonial influence.

'Gandhi inspired African leaders including Nelson Mandela who praised 'Gandhi's magnificent example of personal sacrifice and dedication in the face of oppression.'

'Martin Luther King said the US Civil Rights movement was inspired by Gandhi's principle of non-violence.

'This call is an extreme and limited interpretation of Gandhi, whose heroism united Indians, South Africans and Americans in their liberation movements.

'Mahatma Gandhi is a citizen of the world and an icon of peace. The Manchester statue will celebrate the universal power of his message.'

Miss Khan, an English Literature student, was unavailable for comment.