The statue was found missing an arm on Sunday morning at Kamalapuram village in Salem district. VCK members and people of the village gathered in protest, blocked the Salem-Bengaluru National Highway and demanded action.
People, under the banner of several Dalit-led organisations, blocked the Salem-Bengaluru national highway on Sunday, December 12, after a statue of Dr BR Ambedkar was found vandalised near Omalur in Salem district. Traffic came to standstill for half an hour at the time.
On Sunday morning, residents of Kamalapura village, not far from Omalur town, found the right arm of the statue missing. The police suspect that the incident must have taken place on Saturday night.Several organisations, including the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), blocked the road in protest, raised slogans and demanded that action be taken.
A police contingent from the Omalur station reached the protest site and held discussions with the leaders. A case has been registered, following which the protestors dispersed. Speaking to TNM, Omalur police said that a CCTV camera has now been set up as demanded by the residents and investigations are ongoing. The case has been registered under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, the police said. They also said that the residents of Kamalapuram suspect someone from the Vanniyar community that lives nearby.
This the second such reported incident this month. On December 7, Myladuthurai police were on high alert after stones were pelted at VCK cadres when they were attempting to garland a three-foot-tall image of Ambedkar on the occasion of his 65th death anniversary that falls on December 6. This incident occurred at Pattavarthi village which has a dominant Thevar population. Police intervened during the Myladuthurai incident too and told IANS that they had resorted to cane-charging to bring the situation under control.
With inputs from IANS
Source: The News Minute