The Bahujan Samaj Party held protests and demanded the culprits be arrested immediately.
Continuing the recent spate of incidents of statues of public figures being vandalised, unidentified miscreants damaged a bust of social reformer Savitribai Phule in Rajanna Sircilla district in Telangana on Tuesday.
According to the police, the bust was located in the government school in Suddala and was found defaced on Tuesday morning. A case has been filed under Section 427 (Mischief causing damage) of the Indian Penal Code, and investigation is underway.
“As there is no boundary wall for the school, the attackers could have easily come and vandalised the statue. The incident could have taken place at night,” said the Sub Inspector of Police, Konaraopet.
Sircilla is Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader KT Rama Rao’s constituency.
Condemning the incident, the Bahujan Samaj Party held protests and later submitted a petition to the Mandal Revenue Office, demanding the perpetrators be arrested.
Speaking to TNM, Lingampally Madhukar, a BSP local leader, said, “This act of vandalism is an attack on Dalits. We will not tolerate this. The police must identify the culprits and arrest them.”
Meanwhile, in Tamil Nadu, a statue of EV Ramasamy, popularly known as Periyar, was vandalised on Tuesday in Pudhukottai district’s Alangudi town.
Read: Miscreants vandalise Periyar statue in TN's Pudukkottai district
Earlier in March, BJP leader H Raja had stoked controversy by threatening to vandalise statues of EV Ramasamy. Raja’s comments came after BJP workers razed a statue of Lenin in Tripura after the party won the Assembly polls in the state.
Within 24 hours, a statue of Periyar was vandalised in Vellore district’s Tirupattur. The state was a spate of protests, with 300 people being detained.
Following strong condemnation from all quarters, the BJP leader later took down the post and claimed his admin had written it.