Statue vandalism continues, now sculptor of Periyar damaged in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: In the recent incident of statue defacing and vandalism, a statue of Periyar - also known as Erode Venkata Ramasamy - was damaged in Tamil Nadu's Pudukkottai.

The sculptor of Periyar has been beheaded by unidentified persons. A case has been registered and the investigation is underway.

Periyar was a social activist and a politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam.

On Monday, black ink was smeared on Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee's name engraved on a nameplate at Presidency University campus in Kolkata.

Last week, a statue of Syama Prasad Mukherjee was found vandalised in Assam's Kokrajhar and another of Jawaharlal Nehru - the first prime minister of India - was damaged with black ink in Katwa's Telephone Maidan in West Bengal.

Earlier this month, another statue of the Jana Sangh leader was damaged in Kolkata's Jadavpur University. Seven people were also arrested in connection with the incident.

Also, a life-size statue of Michael Madhusudan Dutt, a prominent poet during the 19th century Bengal renaissance, was found defaced in Raniganj of West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district. According to police and eye-witnesses, Dutt's face was smudged with red colour by unknown miscreants. The incident triggered condemnation in the political circles as also among the locals.

While the statue of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar was damaged with its head destroyed completely, a sculptor of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was defaced in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur. The white statue was smeared with red colour.

Several incidents of statue vandalism have been reported from various parts of the country over the last few days.

Earlier, two statues of Vladimir Lenin was demolished in Tripura – one razed by a mob at Sabroom Motor Stand in Agartala and another by a bulldozer at Belonia College Square in a Tripura town. 

Following the vandalism of the idols of the Communist icon, a statue of Dravidian ideologue ‘Periyar’ EV Ramasamy was damaged in Tirupattur in Tamil Nadu. This was followed by defacing statues of Dr BR Ambedkar in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh and Mahatma Gandhi in Taliparamba in Kannur district of Kerala.

Miscreants also targeted Lord Hanuman's statue in Kharuav village in Uttar Pradesh's Balia. A poster was stuck on the idol.