Tension prevailed in Azamgarh when some unknown miscreants allegedly vandalised the statue of Dr Ambedkar adding to the string of similar incidents across the country targeting political and social icons.
Senior police officers immediately rushed to the spot upon learning of the incident and deployed heavy police force to avert any clash. They also tried to pacify an agitated crowd gathered there promising replacement of the statue, registration of a case and speedy arrest of the accused.
Only on Friday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alerted police and other administrative officials to take measures so that no one could vandalise statues and whip up tension anywhere in the state.
As per reports, the statue of D Ambedkar installed at Rajapatti village of Kaptanganj police station area of Azamgarh was found vandalised early Saturday morning. The locals informed the police after which SP (Rural) Narendra Pratap Singh rushed to the scene along with heavy police force.
The infuriated locals started gathering at the scene and raised slogans demanding the immediate arrest of the accused. The cops somehow defused the tension assuring immediate replacement of the statue. The SP (Rural) promised the locals that strict action would be taken against the vandals.
This is the third incident of its kind in the state after a statue of Dr Amedkar was vandalised in Meerut on Wednesday and was hastily replaced. In Ballia too, the idol of lord Hanuman was vandalized by miscreants on Thursday.
Similar incidents have also been reported from other parts of the country. Statues of Russian revolution mascot lenin in Tripura, social reformer Ramasamy Periyar in Chennai and in Kolkata the bust of Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee were vandalised in recent days.