Even after a stern warning from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh continues to reel under tension following the vandalizing of the statues of Dr B R Ambedkar for the past couple of days.
On Sunday, a fresh case of vandalizing of the statue of the dalit icon was reported from Hathras district. The statue of Dr Ambedkar was damaged inside an Ambedkar park at Nagla area in the outskirts of the city.
Senior officials have rushed to the spot along with reinforcement where the situation was tense.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Sushil Dhule said that efforts were on to identify the people behind the crime and the authorities are making arrangements to replace the vandalised statue with a new one.
Hathras became the third district where the statue of the dalit icon was damaged during the past two days. Yesterday similar reports came from Allahabad and Sidharthnagar.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday had directed officials to take stern action against those involved in such subversive activities. He also asked officials to take the help of people’s representatives and eminent persons for ensuring peace and harmony and hold meetings with them to avert such incidents. Yogi asked the officials to ensure that such incidents were not repeated at any place.
The Chief Minister’s directive came amid reports of the Dalit icon’s statues being vandalised at in Allahabad and Sidharthanagar. The CM had asked the district police chiefs and district magistrates to remain alert and ensure security of the statues of the icons while warning that the government will take strict action against those trying to disturb peace by their act as maintaining law and order is the top priority of the state government.
Meanwhile, unidentified persons vandalized the statue of Dr BR Ambedkar in Gohaniya village of Siddhartnagar, triggering protests by locals who demanded arrest of culprits. The statue was found damaged on Saturday morning.
The distract administration immediately got the statute replaced and later a case was lodged against unidentified persons.
In another incident reported in Allahabad, tension prevailed in an area under Jhunsi police station when the locals spotted the broken statue of Dr BR Ambedkar on Saturday morning.
Soon, the entire area turned into fortress when senior officials rushed to the spot on getting information, along with police force of several police stations, Rapid Action Force.
As per reports, residents Trivenipuram Colony in Jhunsi area saw the broken head of Dr Ambedkar’s statue. As the news spread like a wildfire, tension prevailed in the area.
On getting information, Samajwadi Party MP from Phulpur Nagendra Singh Patel accompanied by hundreds of party workers reached the spot. They started shouting slogans against the administration demanding replacement of the statue and early arrest of the persons who vandalised the Dalit icon.