Herculean task: Police to guard Ambedkar statues in the state

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh police have a difficult task at hand – guarding thousands of statues of Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar across the state.

Additional director general of police (ADG), law and order, Anand Kumar said the superintendents of police of all the districts have been asked to remain alert in view of Dalit agitation against an apex court order allegedly diluting the SC/ST Act.

“Police officers have been asked to maintain vigil and ensure adequate security of Ambedkar’s statues in various districts,” Kumar said. According to a survey carried out by the BSP in 1993 on the direction of the party’s founder Kanshi Ram, it was estimated that there were 9,000 statues of Ambedkar in various villages, towns and cities at that time. Presently, the number of Ambedkar’s statues in the state could well be touching over a lakh, a BSP leader said.

“Three BSP governments under Mayawati led to the revival of Dalit movement in UP. Majority of Dalits asserted their supremacy by installing the statues of Ambedkar, especially in villages,” he said.

“Several parks and monuments were constructed in the name of Ambedkar. All these structures have Ambedkar’s statues,” he said. During Monday’s Bharat Bandh, Dalit leaders lashed out at the state government for its failure to protect the statues of Ambedkar.

“Fearing that vandalisation of Ambedkar’s statues may lead to law and order problem, the state police have issued directives to strengthen security of statues,” said a police officer.

DIG (law and order) Praveen Kumar said the state police had sounded a state wide alert after the violence during Bharat Bandh. “District police officers have been directed to activate intelligence units, strengthen security at public places, carry out round-the-clock patrolling, maintain vigil on social media to check rumours, check caste tension and strengthen security of Ambedkar’s statues,” he said.

A police officer said there were thousands of places where tension could erupt if anti-social elements had their way. “Ambedkar’s statues made of sandstone, concrete and marble have been installed in many Dalit-dominated villages across the state. It will be a Herculean task for the state police to guard all the statues,” he said.

A sculptor Sarvesh Prajapati said the statues of famous personalities should be installed only after the proposal of residents was passed by local bodies concerned. “The statues of personalities like Ambedkar should be made of bronze. Sandstone and concrete statues can be easily broken,” he said. Tension had gripped Allahabad and Siddharthnagar districts on Friday after statues of Ambedkar were vandalised.

Earlier too, Ambedkar’s statues were damaged in Aligarh, Azamgarh and Meerut districts leading to state wide uproar among Dalits. BSP president Mayawati had condemned vandalisation of statues and dem anded action against the culprits. “Instead of changing the name of Ambedkar by adding ‘Ramji’ to it, the state government should check vandalism,” she said.

However, BJP state unit president Mahendra Nath Pandey had termed the vandalisation of statues a conspiracy by rival parties to defame the government.

› Police officers have been asked to maintain vigil and ensure adequate security of Ambedkar’s statues in various districts ANAND KUMAR , Additional director general of police (ADG), law and order