The Mahatma Gandhi Memorial is a public statue of Mahatma Gandhi, installed on a triangular island along Massachusetts Avenue, in front of the Embassy of India, Washington, D.C., in the United States. A gift from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, it was dedicated on September 16, 2000 during a state visit of Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the presence of US President Bill Clinton. Sparked to action in the wake of the 50th anniversary of Indian independence in 1947, the US Congress passed a bill in 1998 authorising the Government of India to establish a memorial to Gandhi on US federal land in the District of Columbia.