Statues of Ambedkar, other icons should be put under CCTV surveillance, says Maharashtra minister

With incidents of desecration of the statues of Dr BR Ambedkar at several places across country, Union minister of state for social justice, Ramdas Athawale, has demanded that all such statues of Ambedkar and other icons be put under CCTV surveillance.

He made the demand on Monday after visiting a spot at Khed in Ratnagiri district where a statue of Dr Ambedkar was vandalised.

“We condemn acts of desecration of statues of great personalities of this country. The government needs to prevent such shameful incidents from happening. This can be done by installing CCTV surveillance system at all the locations where such statues have been installed. This will help the law enforcement to easily identify the perpetrators of such crimes,” Athawale said.

He also demanded that the Khed case be handed over to the Crime Investigation Department (CID) for investigation and immediate arrest of the culprits.

Athawale is the president of the Republican Party of India (RPI-A), which is an ally of the ruling National Democratic Alliance(NDA), led by Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state and at Centre.

In the last few months, several incidents of statutes being desecrated have been reported across the country. Recently, a statue of Dr Ambedkar was found vandalised in Richhpal Garhi village of Bisrakh in Greater Noida a few days before his 127th birth anniversary. Earlier, another statue of Dr Ambedkar was found vandalised in Thedwari village in the Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh.