Bhind, April 6: In the latest incident of attack on statues, a statue of Dalit icon Dr BR Ambedkar's statue was vandalised by unidentified miscreants in Madhya Pradesh. According to a tweet by ANI, the statue was vandalised in Bhind's Kheria Village. The administration has shifted the statue to a different location.

Attacks on statues of various political and historical figures in on a rise since the past few months. On Thursday, several statues of Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar were found damaged in two villages in Firozabad and Etah districts. As per SP (rural) Mahendra Singh, the right hand of the statue of Ambedkar installed at Bagichi in Nagla Nandi village was found damaged this morning in Firozabad.

According to a PTI report, the vandalism incident led to strong protests by the locals who demanded immediate replacement of the statue and arrest of the culprits. As per details by the Police, the thumb of Ambedkar’s statue was found damaged in Shivrampur village in the Kotwali police station area in Etah.

Some miscreants also damaged the boundary wall of the park where the statue was installed, police said, adding that the protesting and slogan-shouting locals were pacified and the repair work was on. Reports inform that investigation in both the cases is underway and efforts were being made to nab the culprits.

According to a PTI report, similar incidents have been reported from Siddhartnagar and Allahabad after which Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issued directives to the district magistrates and SPs to take steps for ensuring security of the statues installed in their respective districts and see that such cases are not repeated.

The attack on statues began from Tripura has now spread to the entire country with busts and statues of several leaders coming under attack since the last month. In a series of attacks over the past months, statues of Lenin, Periyar, Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Ambedkar have been damaged by miscreants in various states.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 06, 2018 11:52 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).