Statue vandalism continues, now Ambedkar's sculptor damaged in Allahabad

Pic Courtesy: ANI

LUCKNOW: In yet another incident of statue defacing and vandalism, a sculptor of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar was damaged in Uttar Pradesh's Allahabad. The incident took place on Saturday in Jhunsi's Trivenipuram. The head of the statue was completed destroyed by miscreants.

Despite strong words by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and clear directives from the Ministry of Home Affairs, there seems to be no end to incidents of vandalism of statues of iconic leaders and ideologues. Several incidents of statue vandalism have been reported from various parts of the country over the last few months.

Last week, the Rajasthan Police had arrested one person for vandalising the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Jaisalmer. This came just days after a statue of country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was defaced in Katwa's Telephone Maidan in West Bengal.

In another related incident earlier this month, a statue of Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee was found vandalised in Assam's Kokrajhar. Also, a life-size statue of Michael Madhusudan Dutt, a prominent poet during the 19th century Bengal renaissance, was found defaced in Raniganj of West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district.

Reports of incidents of statues vandalism started emerging soon after the results of the Assembly elections in Tripura were announced. Following the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Left bastion, a mod demolished a statue of Communist ideologue Vladimir Lenin in Tripura.

Following this, a statue of Dravidian ideologue 'Periyar' EV Ramasamy was damaged in Tirupattur in Tamil Nadu. This was followed by defacing statues of Dr BR Ambedkar in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh and Mahatma Gandhi in Taliparamba in Kannur district of Kerala.

These incidents have sparked war of words between political parties as well. PM Modi, however, had recently made an appeal to people to not indulge in vandalism of statues. Following this, the Union Home Ministry had issued a directive to states to ensure that no such incidents take place.