By IANS,
Lucknow : Tension prevails in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh district after unidentified people desecrated a statue of Bhimrao Ambedkar, with activists of the state’s ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and several others taking to the streets to demand action against the culprits, police said Friday.
“A case has been registered against unidentified people who desecrated the Ambedkar Statue in Kopa village in Pratapgarh, apparently on Thursday night,” police inspector R.M. Dubey told IANS on telephone. Pratapgarh is some 150-km from Lucknow.
Security in the village has been strengthened, added Dubey.
Police are yet to ascertain the exact reason behind the incident. However, police believe the desecration could be a fallout of a land dispute between a group of Dalits and other residents of the village.
Ambedkar, one of the founding fathers of the Indian constitution, serves as an icon for Dalits, whose interests the BSP represents.