Statue Politics: UP Government Rebuilds Vandalised Ambedkar Statue, BSP Leader Paints It Blue

Hours after the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh (UP) rebuilt an Ambedkar statue vandalised earlier, a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader went ahead and painted it blue.

After it was found vandalised on Saturday (7 April) the Badaun administration, amid protests by locals, hastily arranged for a statue from Agra and inaugurated it on Sunday (8 April).

However, soon after being unveiled, the statue was the centre of controversy for being saffron, which the UP opposition termed as the government’s attempt to appropriate Dr BR Ambedkar into the BJP fold. The locals did not have any issue with the statue’s colour whatsoever.

However, notwithstanding the administration’s quick restoration of the statue, a BSP leader, Himendra Gautam repainted the statue blue.

On being asked why did he do it when the locals had no issue with the statues colour, he evaded the media’s questions. He was reportedly present the day the statue arrived from Agra and had no qualms with the colour earlier.