Ambedkar statue vandalised in UP; 5th incident in 4 days across India

Meerut: Dalit icon BR Ambedkar's statue was vandalised by unidentified people in Meerut's Mawana late Tuesday night.

This comes right on the heels of a series of incidents where statues of various luminaries were destroyed across the nation in the last four days.

Following the act, the Dalit community in Meerut held protests and blocked traffic on Wednesday morning. The protest was called off after assurance from the administration on the installation of a new statue.

The incident came to light hours after Home Ministry issued a statement ordering states to to take strong action against such incidents. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his strong disapproval after the vandalism of statues in various states.

Also Read: PM condemns vandalism of statues, Home asks states to take action

On Wednesday morning, a bust of BJP icon Syama Prasad Mookerjee was blackened and its features smashed with a hammer in Kolkata’s Keoratola crematorium. Syama Prasad Mookerjee was the founder of the BJP's predecessor Jana Sangh.

On Tuesday, a statue of Dravidian icon and social reformer EVR Ramasamy, popularly known as Periyar, was vandalised in Tamil Nadu's Vellore. The incident came hours after BJP leader H Raja suggested it in his Facebook post responding to anger over a statue of Russian communist leader Vladimir Lenin being pulled down in Tripura.

The chain of vandalism started after two statues of Lenin were knocked down in Tripura, allegedly by BJP workers, after the Left was defeated in Assembly polls by the BJP and its ally IPFT, which together won a two-third majority in the House in a state where the CPI(M) was in power for 25 years.

A five-foot high fibre glass statue of Lenin was toppled at Belonia on Monday, while a smaller figure was razed at Sabroom on Sunday.