The protests over an alleged try and vandalise a statue of Dr BR Ambedkar in Amritsar spilled over to different elements of Punjab Tuesday with many markets remaining shuts on a name given by Dalit our bodies. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge demanded an unconditional apology from the state’s AAP authorities, and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale demanded Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s resignation over the matter.
Stating that the “sanctity and respect for the chief architect of India’s Structure” and a “beacon of social justice” are being trampled upon underneath the present dispensation, Kharge demanded an “fast and unconditional apology” from the Punjab authorities for the neglect and mistreatment of Dr Ambedkar’s statues.
“We additionally demand that strict motion, with out fail, should be taken towards the perpetrators. In any other case, the nation could be compelled to assume that each the Union authorities and the federal government of Punjab are selling such vandalism,” Kharge said. He mentioned the Punjab authorities utilised each alternative to make use of Ambedkar’s identify and {photograph} for its politics and to hunt votes however “failed miserably” when it got here to defending his values and imaginative and prescient. “The failure to safeguard Ambedkar’s legacy and guarantee due respect to his symbolic presence within the type of statues isn’t just a regional subject — it’s emblematic of a systemic disregard for the values of justice, equality and fraternity that Dr Ambedkar stood for,” he mentioned.
Union Minister Athawale accused the AAP authorities of taking the “incident evenly” and demanded that Mann ought to take ethical duty and resign as chief minister of Punjab. Athawale, the Republican Get together of India chief, additionally mentioned that the “responsible individual ought to be hanged”.
One other Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal mentioned, “On January 26, tableaux have been being taken out on Kartavya Path and respect was being proven to the Structure, whereas in Amritsar, Baba Saheb’s statue was being vandalised. Arvind Kejriwal ought to apologise for that”. Dharamkot resident Akashdeep Singh, 24, was Sunday arrested for allegedly trying to break the statue.
