The vandalised statue of Bhimrao Ambedkar in Allahabad district of UP. (Source: Twitter/ANI)
A statue of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar was decapitated and vandalised in an Ambedkar park in Trivenipuram area of Jhunsi in Allahabad by unidentified miscreants. Locals found the head lying a few feet from the statue early on Saturday morning, police said. This is the third such incident reported from Uttar Pradesh this month. Locals informed police and local BSP and SP leaders and supporters gathered at the park staging a protest, demanding the culprits be arrested. Recently elected Phulpur MP Nagender Singh Patel also reached the spot on Saturday morning.
Additional SP (trans-Ganga) Sunil Kumar Singh said, “We have registered an FIR under sections 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts intending to outrage religious feelings of any class) and 427 (Mischief causing damage) and we are investigating the case. The FIR has been registered against unknown persons. We suspect the incident occurred last night.”
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BSP Allahabad zone president R K Gautam said his party supporters and general public who “look up to” Ambedkar are very “disturbed” by the desecration of the statue.
Gautam said, “We have demanded the district authorities set up a police chowki here because this act by unlawful elements is unpardonable. This statue over the last fifteen years, since a private person set it up, has been vandalised atleast four times. We have also demanded that the authorities replace the vandalised statue with a new one. We will be staging a sit-in till it has been replaced.”
Phulpur MP and Samajwadi Party leader Nagender Patel said, “We have asked the district administration to install a big statue here and they have promised to do so. This is the fourth time this statue has been vandalised over the years so we asked them to establish a police chowki here as well. Unlawful elements keep doing this to the mahapurush of the Dalits, it is a shame.”
Allahabad district magistrate could not be reached for comments. Ambedkar statues were vandalised in Meerut and Aligarh earlier this month, coming in the wake of similar incidents across the country triggered by the razing of Communist icon Lenin’s statue in Tripura by BJP workers. The Home Ministry issued a directive to states to deal with such incidents strictly as did the UP CM Yogi Adityanath to his district police and administrative officers.