Statue of BR Ambedkar desecrated in UP park

Lucknow: In yet another incident of vandalism, a statue of Dalit icon Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was desecrated in Azamgarh district on Friday night. An FIR has been registered against unknown persons but no arrests have been made yet.

The statue installed in Ambedkar Park in front of the district magistrate’s office was found desecrated, which led to protests by the local people.

SP (city) Kamlesh Bahadur said that a new statue was being installed and the people would arrest the culprits at the earliest.

The SP said, “We have registered an FIR against unknown persons and efforts are being made to track down the culprits”.

This is not the first incident of Ambedkar’s statue being vandalised in Azamgarh. Earlier in June, a statue of Ambedkar was found damaged in Kothiya village of Ballia in Uttar Pradesh.

In a separate incident, another statue of Ambedkar was vandalised in April in the district.