BAREILLY: A day after the damaged statue of
BR Ambedkar was rebuilt and painted saffron in Badaun’s
Dugraiyya town, a BSP leader painted it blue on Tuesday.
Two days after the statute was vandalised, a new one was quickly brought in and installed by police on Monday. But this one had Ambedkar wearing a saffron sherwani, triggering howls of protest from
Dalits. On Tuesday, the saffron statue was painted blue allegedly by BSP leader Himendra Gautam.
Bharat Singh Jatav,
Badaun district president, Aarakshan Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, said, “There is anger among the community members due to the colour of the coat. Saffron is unusual as we have always seen his pictures and statues in dark coloured western outfits, blazer and trousers. It must be repainted.”
Veeru Sonkar, state general secretary of
Akhil Bharatiya Khatik Samaj, said, “The saffron statue of the Dalit icon comes soon after the state government emphasised on ‘Ramji’ as his middle name. The local unit of our organisation will give a memorandum to the Badaun district magistrate condemning the statue’s colour and demand that it be painted blue.”
Two-time former BSP MLA from Dataganj in Badaun, Sinod Shakya, said, “After painting many buildings saffron across the state, the
BJP government now wants to saffronise Ambedkar statues, which is unacceptable. If the statue is not painted blue, we will launch a stir against the district administration.” He also demanded arrest of the people who were involved in vandalising the statue in the first place.
An FIR was lodged against a local resident who is on the run after the incident on Saturday. Another Ambedkar statue here was vandalised in 2014.
When contacted, Badaun sub-divisional magistrate Parasnath Maurya said, “The statute installed here was selected by local residents with the help of a BSP coordinator. They had claimed that other statues available at Agra were small in size and that they did not like those.”
