The row over painting of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar's statue in saffron colour in Badayun district in Uttar Pradesh finally ended, with the district administration repainting the statue in blue.
Dr Ambdekar's statue was desecrated by some unidentified miscreants on April 7 in Kunwargaon in Ballia district. The BSP and Dalits in the village had held massive demonstrations following the damage to the statue. The demonstrators lifted the dharna after an assurance from the district and police administration to replace the statue with a new one.
A new statue was requisitioned from Agra and re-installed at the site the next day. But when the statue was unveiled by BSP leaders in the presence of large numbers of Dalits, they were shocked to find that it was painted in saffron colour instead of the usual blue.
They lodged a strong protest over the change of colour. They alleged that an attempt was being made to saffronise Dr Ambedkar. Following protests, the district administration assured the agitators that the statue will be restored to its usual blue colour, before Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14.
But after getting directions from the Chief Minister's office, the statue was repainted on Monday late evening, before the Opposition could take up the issue to generate another controversy to grill Yogi Adityanath government on issues related to Dalits.
Recently, the Yogi government had kicked up another row when it had ordered for adding 'Ramji' in the name of Dr Ambedkar in government correspondence and records. It had also made it mandatory to instal statues of Dr Ambedkar in all government offices.
Saffron is the favourite colour of BJP and the Yogi Adityanth government. After painting Lal Bahadur Shastri Bhawan (Secretariat Annexe), housing CM's office, Haj House, a few police stations, Parks, government stationary too were saffronised.
Issue Resolved
- Dr Ambdekar’s statue was desecrated by some unidentified miscreants on April 7 in Kunwargaon in Ballia district.
- BSP and Dalits in the village had held massive demonstrations.
- When the new statue was unveiled, people were shocked to see that it was painted in saffron colour
