Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday claimed that 151 statues of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar were damaged across 72 districts of Uttar Pradesh during the BJP rule, but only 14 arrests have been made so far.
He alleged that the vandalism was done deliberately because the BJP wanted to change the Constitution but failed to do so.
There was no immediate response from the BJP.
“Statues of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar have been damaged the most. Under the BJP government, over 151 (Ambedkar statues) have been damaged or vandalised in 72 districts,” Yadav told reporters at the party office in Lucknow.
“This was done deliberately because they (the BJP) wanted to change the Constitution but failed to do so. That is why whenever the BJP and those who share its ideology attack, the first thing they target is a hand-held copy of the Constitution,” he said.
He said the Samajwadi Party could track a total of 151 cases of vandalism of Ambedkar statues.
“In all, we have been able to document 151 cases. If we calculate the average, more than 15 statues were damaged annually under this government. There may be undocumented and uncounted cases too,” he said.
Citing government figures, Yadav said arrests were made only in 14 cases. In 45 instances, cases were registered against unknown persons. In eight instances, a named FIR was lodged. In 84 cases, no action was taken.
The BJP government neither respects Ambedkar, his statues, nor his people, Yadav said.
Later, the Samajwadi Party posted a district-wise break-up on social media platform X.
Citing media reports, the post said nine Ambedkar statues were attacked in Ballia; six in Azamgarh; five each in Mathura, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur; and four each in Ghazipur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Prayagraj, Lucknow and Varanasi. Two statues were damaged in Gorakhpur, which stood 21st in the list.
