Lucknow: The saffron coloured coat on the statue of Dr BR Ambedkar, which was unveiled in Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh, has been painted back to its original Blue colour.
This comes a day after News18 published a report about the statue and how it was vandalised on Friday night after causing a furore in Dugraiyya village of UP’s Badaun district.
BSP regional head Hemendra Gautam, who was present when the statue was unveiled, got it painted back to its original colour. The statue was vandalised on Friday night after which protesting locals forced the administration to arrange for a new statue from Agra district.
Till now, more than nine statues of Dr BR Ambedkar have been vandalised in the state. Chief Minister of UP Yogi Adityanath had issued orders to safeguard the statues and provide adequate security to curb such incidents. However, no arrest has been made in a case of statue vandalism in Uttar Pradesh.
BSP chief Mayawati had also demanded that those disturbing peace and harmony by vandalising statues should be booked under the sedition law. She demanded security for statues and memorials built in the memory of icons, especially those of Dalits and other backward classes.
The state government had recently, issued orders to change the name of social reformer and Dalit activist Bhimrao Ambedkar as Bhimrao ‘Ramji’ Ambedkar in all government documents and records. The move has invited sharp criticism from the opposition, which has questioned the timing of the order and alleged that it was a political decision.
The order was issued by the principal secretary of general administration department, Jitendra Kumar, who took cognizance of the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, in which Ambedkar’s name is written as Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. This was done after the issue was raised by Governor Ram Naik last year. He pointed out that the signature by Ambedkar on the pages of the Constitution includes his full name and he should, therefore, be referred to by that moniker.
The spate of vandalism began when a statue of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin was brought down in Tripura days after the BJP registered a thumping victory in the state Assembly elections. A statue of social reformer Periyar was vandalised in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district and a bust of Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee was blackened in Kolkata’s Kalighat.
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