Hindu Sena blackens Babar Road sign in Delhi, demand renaming

Supporters of Hindu Sena, a right-wing outfit, on Saturday morning painted the Babar Road signboard at Bengali market in central Delhi with black ink and demanded that it should be renamed after Maharishi Valmiki or any other “great Indian personality”.

Police said the defacing of the signage was found around 8 am by some police personnel of the Barakhambha Road police station who were out on bicycle morning patrolling duty in Bengali market. The patrolling staff, however, did not find anyone there who was involved in blackening of the board, the police said. Later, Hindu Sena outfit claimed responsibility for it.

“Babar was a foreign invader who had attacked and ruled our country. He was a Mughal emperor and wasn’t born in India. Our country is the land of Lord Rama, Krishna, Sant Ravidas, and Maharishi Valmiki. We demand that the government rename Babar Road after any of these great Indian personalities,” said Hindu Sena president Vishnu Gupta, claiming that he was not present when the signage was blackened.

Gupta claimed that around six months ago, his outfit had written a letter to the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Union home ministry as well, demanding the renaming of Babar Road after Maharishi Valmiki.

“As nothing was done on our demand, we blackened the road signage erected by the NDMC,” Gupta added.

Police said a case under the defacement of property act was being registered against unknown persons. “We will identify and take action as per law against persons involved in it,” said a police officer, who asked not to be named.

The NDMC said the board has been restored. “We have restored the board to its original state and filed a police complaint under section pertaining to defacement of public property at the Barakhamba Police Station,” said Rashmi Singh, secretary, NDMC.

First Published: Sep 14, 2019 23:05 IST