On Monday night, miscreants smeared cow dung on images of Ambedkar and Periyar in Mottur of Krishnagiri district, leading to tension in the area. The incident took place during midnight and the people of Ambedkar Colony were shocked when they discovered the vandalism on Tuesday. The Krishagiri Town police have started the investigation but they are yet to zero in on the accused.
A video from the Ambedkar Colony in Mottur, showed cow dung smeared on a recently painted wall image of Ambedkar and EV Ramaswamy (aka) Periyar.
The video also showed the people of Ambedkar Colony washing off the cow dung from the image.
The smearing incident has taken place just before the people in the colony were getting ready to celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti.
Talking to TNM, a policeman from Krishnagiri town police station said, “We have called the members of the Ambedkar Colony and have started conducting investigations. Till now there is no clarity on who did the offense or why it was carried out.”
“We will decide on registering a FIR only after the cause for the incident is known,” he added.
The instance of insulting Periyar and Ambedkar statues by throwing paint or cow dung is being increasingly reported in Tamil Nadu. In 2018, a bust of Ambedkar was defaced by unknown people in north Chennai. The incident was reported days after a statue of Periyar was vandalized following a post from a senior BJP leader on Facebook.
Similarly, in 2019, the police arrested 28 people in Vendaranyam after clashes broke out between two caste groups following the vandalism of Ambedkar statue. The incident triggered several protests and the bust was eventually replaced with a new bronze statue of the leader.
Source: The News Minute