The statue of Mahatma Gandhi at a school in Shahjahanpur. (ANI)
A controversy erupted on Friday after a statue of Mahatma Gandhi was found painted in saffron colour at a government school in Dhaka Ghanshyampur village of Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress alleged the role of BJP behind the act.
A delegation, led by district Congress chief Kaushal Misra, handed over a memorandum to District Magistrate Amrit Tripathi, demanding immediate action against the miscreants who painted the statue. “I sent the party’s block unit president Rahul Sharma to the primary school where the statue was installed. He found the statue painted in saffron. He even clicked photographs,” Misra said, adding that the ruling BJP was behind the incident.
The district Congress head also said that party members in Lucknow and Delhi have been apprised of the matter. He added that the ruling BJP had done this to divert public attention from pressing issues.
However, the district administration downplayed the act, saying an enquiry showed that the colour on the statue was not saffron but yellow. The district magistrate said a team of officials, who was sent to the spot, found the painting was done over two years ago.
“The paint on the statue is light yellow and not saffron,” Tripathi said, adding, “Two years ago, the then principal Snehasu had ordered repairs and painting works as part of which the statue got a coat of light yellow paint. The incident is being made an issue now.”
Responding to the administration’s above claim, the Congress said if this was the case, the matter would have come to light earlier.
The district magistrate has now ordered for a probe, led by Sub-Divisional Magistrate Puvaya Satyapriya Singh, into the incident.