After vandalisation of revolutionary communist icon Vladimir Lenin statue in Tripura on March 5, other cases of statue raze triggered in parts of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
On March 7, some unidentified miscreants vandalised the statue of Dalit icon, Dr BR Ambedkar, in Meerut’s Mawana in Uttar Pradesh, inciting protests from the local supporters.
Protesters took to the road and blocked the traffic in the morning, which they later withdrew after an assured by the district administration that a new statue will be installed. The Meerut administration says it has installed a new statue, as per reports.
In another case of statue raze in Kolkata, members of a left-wing student organisation on March 7 allegedly demolished a bust of Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee and blackened its face.
Police have detained six members of the group in the incident that happened at the Keoratola crematorium, as per reports.
Condemning the incident, Sayantan Basu, general secretary of West Bengal BJP said, “We condemn the act of vandalising the statue of Dr Syama Prasad Mukherjee… demand very strong action against the culprits and also want to give… message that you cannot take away the contribution of Mukherjee in building West Bengal, by this shameful act.”
Coming down to the southern region, a statue of social reformer and founder of Dravidian movement E V Ramasamy, popularly known as “Periyar” was allegedly vandalised in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district.
The incident was perpetrated by two persons, identified as Muthuraman and Francis, who damaged the bust of the statue at Tirupattur in an inebriated state on the night of March 6. The incident occurred soon after BJP leader H Raja made a provoking Facebook post where he said: “Periyar is next after Lenin.”
