It doesn't take much to whip up a protest in San Francisco - two people and a bad idea will do - but Gandhi? Really?

A group billing itself as the Organization for Minorities of India plans to protest today to demand the removal of the bronze statue of Mohandas Gandhi that has sat in the plaza behind the Ferry Building since 1988.

Up until this point, about the only adversity the statue has faced has been people swiping the trademark circle-rimmed eyeglasses (at least four times) and the indignity of a roosting seagull or pigeon.

But the group - which says it was formed four years ago to publicize the oppression of Christians, Buddhists, Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs and other Indian minorities considered to be on the lowest rungs of the Hindu caste system - says Gandhi was a racist who harbored violent urges.

"The popular image of Gandhi as an egalitarian pacifist is a myth," Bhajan Singh, one of the organizers, said in a statement. "We plan to challenge that myth by disseminating Gandhi's own words to expose his racism and sham nonviolence."

The group plans to present Ferry Building management with a demand to remove the statue and ask for it to be replaced with one of either Martin Luther King Jr. or low-caste Dalit leader B.R. Ambedkar.

The statue is on port property but is actually under the purview of the Arts Commission.

"I suppose Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela must have their critics as well," Arts Commission President P.J. Johnston said. "These folks are free to lodge their protest, but I doubt that our commission will move to take down the statue."

Johnston, whose day job is crisis management, added: "I would just say that in my professional career, I've had no greater honor than having to defend Gandhi."

- John Coté

Hidden message: A year after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office sent a coded veto message containing the f-bomb to San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, the governor signed the latest version of the same bill last night - and included another hidden message.

This one was much more politic.

A vertical read down the letters on the left margin of the governor's signing statement says: "You Are Welcome."

That's a far cry from last year, when a similar reading of the veto statement for the bill dealing with financing for the Port of San Francisco revealed the message: "F- you."

"A little different message this time," Ammiano said. "What a difference a year makes."

The public spat between Ammiano and Schwarzenegger arose when the governor unexpectedly showed up at a Democratic Party dinner in San Francisco. The assemblyman, angered that Schwarzenegger had cut social services, furloughed state workers and failed to act on gay-rights issues such as marriage equality, called Schwarzenegger a liar and shouted from the audience, "Kiss my gay ass."

Schwarzenegger's office insisted the profane message in his veto issued a few weeks later was a mere coincidence. The governor's office didn't return our call on this year's missive. That would certainly be some luck to have such on-point messages coincidentally appear two years in a row.

Ammiano said he is relieved that the bill, AB1199, was signed, because it makes it easier for the cash-strapped port to finance projects that can create jobs.

The legislation will "effectuate my job creation priority and lead to much needed improvements in this area," the last line of Schwarzenegger's signing statement read.

Effectuate? Well, after all, welcome ends with an "e."

- John Coté