Politics over statues: PM Modi seeks action against vandals

Early on Wednesday, a petrol bomb was hurled at a BJP office in Coimbatore, around 500 km from here, by unidentified persons.

The incident in Tripura has sparked a series of such vandalism of statues of different personalities including Shyama Prasad Mookerjee in Kolkata, B.R. Ambedkar in Meerut and Periyar E.V. Ramasamy in Vellore. He also said he has removed the admin who had put the FB post, but the protests had refused to die down.

Meghalaya, another state where election results were declared on 3rd March along with Tripura and Nagaland, saw a tight contest between Congress and NPP (National People’s Party) with Congress winning 21 seats, two more than NPP. “Today it is Lenin’s statue in Tripura, tomorrow it will be the statue of caste fanatic EVR Ramasamy”.

Amid the sporadic incidents of statues vandalisation in some parts of India, the union government has issued a second advisory to the states, asking them to promptly investigate such incidents and prosecute the culprits. This was followed by an attack on a Periyar statue in Vellore district of Tamilnadu.

In a strongly worded message, the prime minister condemned the incidents of statue vandalism.

“One man is a BJP member and another CPI worker, both drunk”, the police said.

First provocating action and then apologies.

“The prime minister himself told me that he would come and see our swearing-in ceremony”, Biplab Deb, BJP Tripura president and chief minister designate, said to THE WEEK.

IPFT President Narendra Chandra Debbarma said the party has demanded four ministerial berths from the BJP and “we have discussed with Sarma and other leaders accordingly”.

Mr. Vaiko slammed Makkal Needhi Maiam leader and actor Kamal Haasan’s statement calling for removal of all statues. Asked if the BJP should take action against Raja, Haasan said “that would be the proper, decent thing to do”.

The Home Minister has appealed to political parties to ensure that those found desecrating statues are dealt with strictly.

“Our party never accepts such activities”, Soundararajan said on Twitter. Two activists of Periyar organisation were arrested. The police told TNM that Francis was a member of the CPI. The police also arrested 23 DMK volunteers when they tried to show black flags at Tiruppattur.