Tripura to Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal, a dangerous political trend of statue vandalism of prominent leaders has begun.
Just two days after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) massive victory in Tripura’s state elections, a statue of Russian communist icon Vladimir Lenin was struck down in Belonia.
A few hours later, a statue of Periyer, a Dravidian icon and Dalit leader, was vandalised in Tamil Nadu. The spree continued with Syam Prasad Mookerjee’s statue in West Bengal and Bhimrao Ambedkar’s statue in Uttar Pradesh.
The question is, how did a country of idol-worshipers suddenly turn into a country of idol vandals? Is this just mob-fury, or a well-planned conspiracy?
The conspiracy theory cannot be denied.
Was the tweet by BJP leader Ram Madhav, saying that the statue was being taken down in Tripura and not Russia, a nasty joke?
The tweet was later deleted but the damage was done. BJP leader H Raja, too, had warned of “Periyer being next,” hours before the statue was vandalised in Tamil Nadu.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Vinod Bansal also tweeted, saying that the country does not need statues of oppressive leaders who endorsed slavery.
This isn’t just mob fury, it’s a fight between ideologies.
Should a secular country like India have place for such ideological ego and hatred? No. But in the past few months, such ideological battles under the garb of ‘fringe groups’ have become a new normal and a worrying trend.
Murders in the name of ‘love Jihad,’ cow vigilantism, moral policing – the list is endless.
Centre Worried?
One might say that the central government is worried, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the incidents of the past two days. Party president Amit Shah has reportedly warned the party workers to stay away from such incidents.
But as the saying goes, when in politics, political will and political posturing are opportunistic tools.
The vandalism of Ambedkar’s statue in Uttar Pradesh merely 48 hours of the PM’s condemnation tells a different story.
Is this the new political vendetta after love jihad and cow vigilantism? Is this a new way of giving a green signal to goons to continue to disrupt the country in the garb of nationalism and ideology?
If it is, it might prove to be dangerous for democracy. The hands blessing the goons need to understand that vandals do not have any ideologies.
(The story was first published on Hindi Quint)
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