The district administration on Saturday prevented initial unrest over vandalized statue of Birsa Munda from snowballing into a conflagration. The statue at the tribal hero’s mausoleum was repaired by Friday late night, while the bandh called by tribal outfits on Saturday had minimal impact on life.
At least 168 persons were detained on Saturday during the course of the bandh and kept at a camp jail in Morhabadi. A majority of the detained persons, police said, were members of tribal rights outfits and none of them had association with any political party.
“The bandh was peaceful across the city. Transport facilities remained unaffected and no violence was reported from any part of Ranchi,” said Ranchi Superintendent of Police, Sujata K Veenapani.
The matter came to light on Thursday night when locals found that the left arm of the statue was broken and thrown at a few meter’s distance from the structure in Kokar. The broken arm of the statue also had the bow and arrow, a symbol of tribal valour and revolution. The incident hogged the attention of political parties and tribal rights bodies on Friday and they called a Ranchi bandh on Saturday as a mark of protest.
State ministers and leaders from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were heckled on Friday during their visit to the mausoleum. The uproar gained momentum as opposition parties extended their moral support to the bandh supporters. However, prompt action by the district administration on Saturday foiled all efforts by the protestors to disrupt daily life.
Birsa Munda was one of the most revered freedom fighters of State referred to as Bhagwan (God) by the tribal community here. He was a spearhead behind the Millenarian movement that arose in the Bihar and Jharkhand belt in the early 19th century under the British colonisation. He encouraged the tribal community to protect their land from the British and take the army on through guerrilla warfare.
Opposition leaders have demanded that the mausoleum should be kept under CCTV surveillance to catch hold of any miscreant involved in causing damage to the statue or littering the area. Ranchi Deputy Mayor Sanjiv Vijaywargiya on Saturday said that the administration will soon install CCTV cameras in the mausoleum and also pass instructions to the police to keep a special watch in the area during patrolling.
“CCTV cameras will be installed in the area. Also, we will erect a fresh metal statue of Bhagwan Birsa Munda at the mausoleum by November 15,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Raghubar Das has ordered a special probe in the matter and directed the police to nab the culprits responsible for the damage caused to the statue at the earliest.