Ambedkar statue vandalised in Phillaur again, 3rd case this year

A statue of Dr BR Ambedkar was sprayed with black paint at Nangal village of Phillaur early this morning. This is the third incident of vandalism of Ambedkar’s statue in Punjab over the past five months. The statue of Dr Ambedkar has been vandalised for the second time at the same site in Phillaur within a span of about two months. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun of the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) has claimed responsibility for both incidents at Phillaur via a video post. The first such incident this year occurred in Amritsar on Republic Day. Pannun released a video of the incident at 9.15 am on Monday, prompting immediate action by the police and intelligence agencies. The face of the statue had been blackened. The police team that reached the spot cleaned the statue quickly. While the old statue, which was vandalised at the site on March 31, was protected with a glass shield, the new statue did not have any such covering. CCTV cameras were, however, installed there after the previous incident. The CCTV footage shows a man in a cap and face covering spraying paint on the face of the statue twice. Efforts are on to identify him. Pannun claimed the timing of the incident was specifically chosen ahead of the 41st anniversary of the Operation Bluestar. Soon after the incident, Congress workers, led by party spokesperson Amritpal Bhonsle, gheraoed the Phillaur SHO, seeking that the DVR be secured. They blamed the police for not being able to protect the statues. Jalandhar (Rural) SSP Harwinder S Virk said, “We have lodged an FIR. Our teams are working to identify the accused.” Phillaur Congress MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary, who reached the site, strongly condemned the incident. He said it was a “shameful and cowardly attack not only on a revered national figure, but on the soul of Constitution itself”. He said the intent behind the act was to provoke communal discord, especially between Dalits and Sikhs. Jalandhar MP Charanjit S Channi said, “It is a handiwork of the Central agencies. Pannun is a man of these agencies. He is being used to vitiate harmony in the state. They want to create a rift between Sikhs and Dalits. Pannun and others are not aware that Dr Ambedkar had urged the SGPC to set up Khalsa College in Mumbai and he was always much influenced by Sikhism.”

Punjab