The central government formed a six-member delegation on Sunday in Amritsar to investigate the vandalism incident involving the statue of Bhimrao Ambedkar.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Guru Parkash Paswan, speaking at a press conference, lashed out at Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, questioning why he did not have any answers regarding this unfortunate incident. He further stated that the damage caused to the statue would be repaired and the culprits would be punished. "This is an extremely sad and unfortunate incident. Kejriwal as of what we have noticed speaks highly of BR Ambedkar but we cannot see his devotion today. We will ensure that all damage to the statue is covered up and the accused is punished for his doing. BJP has been working on this and we will not tolerate any such incident in the future..." Paswan said. Lal Singh Aray, National President of SC Morcha, criticised Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his government, calling them irresponsible. "Bhagwant Mann and his government are highly responsible and this can be seen after this incident. it has been seven days since the incident but it is shocking that there are no police statements yet. We highly suspect that the people linked to this incident could be from the AAP government or Mann's government. The people had demanded a proper investigation which has not yet happened. For the BJP, Ambedkar is the pride. The faces of the accused should be revealed..." Aray said at the conference. Rajya Sabha MP Brij Lal spoke about the incident, revealing that the individual responsible for the damage had attempted to break the statue and burn the Indian flag. "Upon inspection from the site, we found out that the accused had tried to vandalise the statue by breaking it and had also attempted to burn the Indian flag. The culprit had stayed for two years in Dubai and is a Sikh. From our investigations, we have found that he could not have done this alone. There is a group of people behind this incident. NIA is conducting a proper investigation on this..." Lal said. Furthermore, Lal also hit out at Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for not visiting the site, despite their purported high regard for Ambedkar. "Bhagwant Mann has still not paid a visit to the site. Even Rahul Gandhi who talks so highly about Ambedkar ji has not paid a visit. The attitude of the Punjab government towards this incident is very casual. We demand proper security near the idol..." he further stated. This comes in after a youth on Republic Day vandalised the life-size statue of Ambedkar in Amritsar by climbing atop it and striking it with a hammer. A video of the incident had gone viral on social media. (ANI)
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