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| Vandalism and desecration of statues | | | Omkar Dattatray
Difference of opinion and debate as well as disagree
ment is the soul and essence of a democracy and civilized behavior. You cannot stifle the others beliefs and opinion and cannot obliterate the cherished philosophies and ways of thinking of others. The recent trend of the vandalism and desecration of the statues of the great men is a very disturbing development which has no place in the civilized world of today. Ah! This spree of vandalism and desecration points towards the fact that we are living in 21st century with 18th century bent of mind. It seems that the BJP's new political strategy came into practice with the desecration and vandalism of Valadimir Lenin's statue in Tripura following the victory of BJP-IPFT alliance in the state. The statue of the communist icon Lenin, the Russian revolutionary who had led the fight against the fascist regime in Europe was vandalized in Belomia town a few days ago by some so called BJP workers. A day after another Lenin statue was brought down in south Tripura's Subroom town. This vandalism is the attack on the very philosophy and thinking of the great men but their ideas and viewpoints cannot be eclipsed by the brute manifestation of hooliganism and vandalism of the statues of the great men. There is no place for such abominable acts of vandalism of the statues and those indulging in these anti social acts should be booked and severe punishment given to them otherwise the spree of vandalism will continue unabated. It is very disturbing that BJP-IPFT activists physically attacked 514 communist party of India Marxists, CPIM workers and supporters, vandalized 1539 houses of party workers and supporters and set on fire 196 houses, vandalized 134 party offices, burnt 64 offices and forcible occupation of 268 offices alleged CPIM state secretary Bijon Dhar. All this started after BJP won the Tripura assembly elections and defeated left party after 25 years rule. But such barbaric acts have no place in civilized world and a democracy. After the desecration of Lenin statue, the Tamil Nadu has witnessed the desecration of the statue of dravadian icon E.V Ramaswamy popularly known as Periyar. The desecration of the Periyar statue situated in Thriupattur took place following the facebook post of H. Raja - a BJP leader in Tamil Nadu.
There after B.R. Ambedkar statue was demolished by the unidentified people in UP's Meerut some days back. The incident came to light after the centre and state government took strong action against the lumpen elements who desecrated statues. It rightly evoked strong protests from the dalit community. Some fringe and lunatic elements attacked the bust of Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee in Kolkata's Kalighat. Some seven people have been arrested in this connection. BJP has condemned the vandalism and demanded strict action against the culprits. Another Ambedkar statue was found damaged in Aligarh prompting angry protest from locals. The vandals attacked the statue of the father of nation - Gandhi in the southern state of Kerala breaking its wire rimmed eye glasses. The attacks were part of vandalism that has unleashed accusations and recriminations and sent political tensions boil over as one by one at least six monuments have been vandalized. Opposition parties attribute the attack to the supporters of BJP, emboldened after landslide victory in the state elections in Tripura. The growing trend of intolerance and barbaric attitude has lowered the credibility of our political and social system in the eyes of the civilized world.
PM Modi issued a strong condemnation of vandalism promising swift retribution against vandals no matter their party affiliation. But the vandalism appeared to be aimed mostly at figures who are important to Dalits whom some BJP supporters disdain. The statue destruction in Tripura was symbolic of the victory of the rightists over left. Statue vandalism has emerged as a pan India phenomenon. It is the new tool of the political battle in India. In fact, when the statue of Lenin in Tripura was brought down it triggered a fade of statue vandalism across the country. Statue destruction can hardly dent the image of the great men and their ideology as their ideologies are not subservient to the vandalism and destruction.
There should be a halt to statue desecration or otherwise our image in the comity of civilized world will be dented. It follows that we should not revert back to 18th century mentality. Statue destruction and vandalism is in fact an attack on the plural ethos of the country. You cannot change ideology of a person with such vandalism. All those who are desecrating and vandalizing the statues should be identified, prosecuted and put behind the bars so that the disturbing trend of statue vandalism of great men will be halted. |
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