Vandalism of Ambedkar’s statue in Phillaur sparks protest in city
The Scheduled Caste (SC) community staged a sit-in at Bharat Nagar Chowk on Wednesday to express their resentments against the vandalism of a statue of Dr BR Ambedkar in Phillaur.
The statue, encased in glass, was discovered with Khalistani slogans and provocative graffiti scrawled across its cover. The inscriptions “Sikhs are not Hindus” and “Trump zindabad” were painted on the glass, while two flags, one saffron and the other blue, bearing similar messages, were taped to the casing.
Some SC Community leaders were also detained by the local police but they were released after the departure of CM Bhagwant Singh Mann and Arvind Kejriwal.
Protesters said the Dalit community strongly opposed the act of scribbling Khalistani slogans on the outer glass of the statue of Baba Sahib at Nangal village of Phillaur. They demanded the government to take strict action against ‘terrorist Pannu’, who was spewing venom against Baba Saheb.
They said the Jalandhar rural police had registered a case against unknown persons for the vandalism, but Pannu had already taken the responsibility, stating members of his organisation had committed the act. Police officials should identify the culprits and put them behind bars.
Interestingly, when the protesters blocked traffic by sitting at the chowk for some time, Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Jain himself reached the spot and calmed down the protesters. They submitted a memorandum to the DC and demanded immediate action against the culprits.
