New Delhi: The vandalisation of statues of political and ideological figures across the country found its latest victim in Dalit icon Dr BR Ambedkar, whose statue was targetted by miscreants in Meerut's Mawana late on Tuesday night.
Amid the sporadic incidents of statues vandalisation in some parts of India, the union government has issued a second advisory to the states, asking them to promptly investigate such incidents and prosecute the culprits. The advisory urges the states to make District Magistrates and Senior Superintendents of Police personally responsible for ensuring that law and order situation remains firmly under control.
The directions come in the wake of a mob uprooting the statute of communist icon Vladimir Lenin in Tripura's Belonia, after the drubbing the Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPI-M) faced in the recently held state assembly elections.
We take a quick look at how this row of defacements started.
LeninThe row started when Communist icon Vladimir Lenin’s statue was brought down at Belonia town, headquarters of South Tripura district, days after the BJP’s victory in Tripura elections where a 25-year-long communist government was ousted.
The nearly 11-ft tall fibre glass statue, which stood on a pedestal at College Square, was brought down last Monday with the help of a bulldozer.
Belonia is located about 110 km from Agartala. Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, and its arch-rival in Bengal, the Trinamool Congress, have blamed the BJP for the incident. Meanwhile, Belonia Municipal Council’s CEO Amit Ghosh said that the vandalised statue will be kept at the premises of the municipal body in Agartala. The statue was erected sometime around 2015 at the cost of nearly Rs5 lakh and a local artist has sculpted it. The fund had come from the Tripura Urban Employment Programme (TUEP), he said.The Nirav Modi wave in Tripura bulldozing statue of Lenin. Planet Apes have taken over the country, the fight now is for existence of human values. #DemocracyDemonetised pic.twitter.com/lqdUSt2AmE
— Priyanka Gandhi (@WithPGV) March 5, 2018
On Tuesday, a second statue of the Communist icon was razed to the ground at Sabroom, in the southernmost tip of the state bordering Bangladesh. Both Sabroom and Belonia fall in South Tripura district. Periyar A statue of social reformer and founder of Dravidian movement E.V. Ramasamy “Periyar” was allegedly vandalised in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district on Wednesday night, police said. The incident, which the police claimed was perpetrated by two drunk men, assumed political significance as it came after a BJP leader indicated that statues of the rationalist leader could be the next to be pulled down after a statute of Communist icon Lenin was razed by suspected BJP workers in Tripura.A statue of Vladimir Lenin brought down at Sabroom Motor Stand in #Tripura. pic.twitter.com/JLe3tFwEJO
— ANI (@ANI) March 6, 2018
A senior district police officer said that two people, identified as Muthuraman and Francis, damaged the bust at Tirupattur in an inebriated state. The duo have been arrested, the police said, adding that while Muthuraman was suspected to be a BJP worker, Francis is believed to be a CPI activist. Earlier on Wednesday, BJP leader H. Raja said in a Facebook post in Tamil, “Who is Lenin and what is the connection between Lenin and India? What connection India has with Communists? Today Lenin’s statue removed in Tripura, tomorrow it will be the statue of E.V. Ramasamy in Tamil Nadu.” The post was subsequently deleted. It drew condemnation from several political parties in the state. Political parties including DMK, MDMK and the Left lashed out at Raja, a BJP national secretary, with DMK working president M.K. Stalin leading the charge seeking his detention under the ‘Goondas Act’. Syama Prasad Mookerjee A bust of Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee was on Wednesday vandalised in south Kolkata by seven persons, including a woman, allegedly belonging to a left-wing group ‘Radical’, police said. All the seven persons have been arrested, city police commissioner Rajiv Kumar said. The incident happened after two statues of communist icon Vladimir Lenin were pulled down in Tripura and a bust of rationalist movement founder E.V. Ramasamy or Periyar was vandalised in Tamil Nadu. “A portion on the right side of the bust including its right ear, eye and cheek was damaged,” the officer of the Tollygunj police station said.#TamilNadu : Periyar statue inside Tirupattur corporation office vandalised in Vellore district. Two persons arrested by Police. pic.twitter.com/F8ufRU121e
— ANI (@ANI) March 7, 2018
Restoration of the bust has been initiated, he said. Adequate police personnel have been deployed in the area to check any other untoward incident. Dr Ambedkar Miscreants have now targeted a statue of Dalit icon Dr B R Ambedkar in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut, the latest in a series of attacks on statues of political and ideological figures across the country. Members of the Dalit community held protests and blocked traffic in Mawana, Meerut after Ambedkar's statue was vandalised by unidentified persons on Tuesday night. The agitators called off the protest after district administration assured them that a new statue of Ambedkar would soon be installed.West Bengal: Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee's bust vandalized in Jadavpur University pic.twitter.com/OHXAKNxdua
— ANI (@ANI) March 7, 2018
The incident came to light hours after the Home Ministry sent an advisory to all states and Union territories to take strong action against anyone involved in the destruction of statues. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his strong disapproval of statues being vandalised in parts of the country.Dr BR Ambedkar's statue vandalised by unidentified people in Meerut's Mawana late last night; Dalit community held protest & blocked traffic in the morning, ended the protest after assurance from the administration of installation of new statue pic.twitter.com/DAAcq6g5Wf
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 7, 2018
