Gandhi remains a deeply ambiguous figure: a fervent Hindu who advocated religious harmony; a believer in the caste system who deplored "untouchability"; and an anti-colonialist who was willing to compromise with the British empire. This renders him open to appropriation by different interests, some progressive, some retrograde. But we should not allow a statue in Parliament Square to blandly entrench a historical amnesia and diminish a venal and violent present.