Despite assurances by the state government, statue vandalism continues unabated in Uttar Pradesh with the latest incident being reported from Allahabad where a statue of BR Ambedkar was beheaded.
According to reports, the Dalit icon’s statue was damaged by miscreants in Jhunsi’s Trivenipuram in Allahabad early Saturday.
Situated in the centre of a public park, the stone statue’s head was cut off by unidentified people and thrown on the ground right next to the podium on which the effigy was standing.
This comes in the wake of the Uttar Pradesh administration adding the ‘Ramji’ to the name of the father of Indian constitution in all its official communications.
Police have started investigating the matter while civic authorities have rushed to the spot to repair the broken statue.
This is the fourth Ambedkar statue desecrated in UP this month.
The first incident was reported on March 7 from a village in Meerut followed by another statue being vadalised in Azamgarh on March 11 as well as Unnao on March 16.
Similar incidents have also been reported from other parts of the country with statues of social reformer Ramasamy Periyar’s and Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee being vandalised in different parts of the country.
There has been a slew of such incidents in different parts of the country ever since Lenin’s statue was torn down in Tripura earlier this month following BJP’s grand victory.