Mahatma Gandhi statue damaged in Kerala, BR Ambedkar bust defaced in Tamil Nadu

A statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Kerala's Kannur district and a bust of Dr. BR Ambedkar in Tamil Nadu's Thiruvotriyur Periyar Nagar were found disgraced on Thursday.

A statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Kerala's Kannur district and a bust of Dr. BR Ambedkar in Tamil Nadu's Thiruvotriyur Periyar Nagar were found disgraced on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: There seems to be no end to the incidents of demolition and vandalism of statues across the country despite a stern warning by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh against such acts. In two such incidents, a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Kerala's Kannur district and a bust of Dr. BR Ambedkar in Tamil Nadu's Thiruvotriyur Periyar Nagar were found disgraced on Thursday. According to reports, an unidentified miscreant tried to damage Mahatma Gandhi statue in Thaliparamba area of Kerala's Kannur. The spectacles of the idol were found hanging from its face.

Tripura, TN, WB, UP and now Kerala, Miscreant tried to damage Mahatma Gandhi statue in Kerala's Kannur. Gandhi's spectacle on the statue damaged. An unidentified person pulled down the spectacle, garland & fled the spot when people caught him in the act. #StatuePolitics pic.twitter.com/6mIFkaO86M

— Pinky Rajpurohit (@Madrassan) March 8, 2018

The attacker pulled down the spectacles, garland and fled the spot. The police have launched an investigation into the case. In another attack, a statue of Bhimrao Ambedkar was attacked in Chennai. Red paint was thrown at the Ambedkar bust installed in Thiruvotriyur Periyar Nagar area of Tamil Nadu's capital. This comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemned incidents of vandalism of statues in certain parts of the country and warned of stern action against those found guilty. The Ministry of Home Affairs had also said it has taken serious note of such incidents and directed state governments to take strong action. Persons indulging in such acts must be sternly dealt with and booked under relevant provisions of law, the ministry had said. It all began when two statues of communist icon Lenin in Tripura were pulled down just days after the Left was defeated in Assembly polls by the BJP and its ally IPFT. On Tuesday night, a statue of social reformer and founder of Dravidian movement E V Ramasamy "Periyar" was vandalised in Tamil Nadu's Vellore district. The incident was followed by an attack on a bust of Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee in south Kolkata on Wednesday. Another statue of BR Ambedkar was damaged in Uttar Pradesh’s Mawana on Tuesday, triggering protests by Dalits.