Disper:
A 10-foot-tall statue of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was torn down by unidentified vandals at Pailapool in Assam’s Cachar district. The incident, captured on CCTV, sparked a political debate as the opposition Congress questioned the ruling BJP’s silence on the act.
Morning walkers discovered the vandalized statue on Tuesday. “We immediately informed the police. Officials initially claimed that the statue fell on its own, but CCTV footage showed a group damaging the statue with the help of an excavator,” Congress leader Pradeep Kumar Dey said on Wednesday.
The statue was installed in 2000 in front of Nehru College, an educational institution established in 1965. Congress leader Pradeep Kumar Dey said the district has a long tradition of honoring the first prime minister since 1953, when a high school was established in Nehru’s name.
“We have a great culture of honoring our first prime minister,” Dey said on Wednesday. He added that late minister Santosh Mohan Dev and former state secretary Dinesh Prasad Goala were present at the 2000 inauguration ceremony.
The Congress has filed a First Information Report (FIR) in the case. Local police officer Shankar Dayal confirmed that a case has been registered and the excavator seen in the video has been seized.
“We have digital evidence and our team is working to identify the individuals involved. Once identified, the accused will be arrested,” Dayal said.
Former Congress district speaker Abhijit Paul liked the bill to remove statues of Bangladesh’s founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 2024.
“It is shameful to deface his statue. Nehru was a freedom fighter who shaped the future of India,” Paul said. “Some people hate Nehru because of his political beliefs, but vandalizing his statue reminds us of how the statues of the father of Bangladesh were vandalized after Hasina’s fall. The idea behind both is the same.”
The Congress also criticized Kaushik Rai, the BJP legislator and minister from the constituency where the incident occurred, for not issuing a statement. “This area falls under the constituency of BJP legislator Kaushik Rai. Rai is a minister but has not spoken against it,” Paul said.
While Chief Minister Rai did not respond to calls, other BJP leaders have so far refused to comment on the matter.
