Syama Prasad Mookerjee statue vandalised in Kolkata, six radical activists arrested

Kolkata:Tension ran high in South Kolkata today after a statue of Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee was vandalized at Kalighat allegedly by six activists of a radical outfit, forcing the administration to deploy RAF after the BJP supporters started assembling at the scene of crime.The white bust of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, close to the statue of Deshbandu Chittaranjan Das inside the Keoratala crematorium, was first blackened and then vandalized by six youth around 0800 hours, barely two days after the statue of Lenin was demolished at Belonia in Tripura.

The local people, present there, were taken aback and then overpowered the six youth and handed them over to police, who also seized posters from them. Police said the six youth from a radical group are students of Jadavpur University.Eyewitnesses said the youth had used a hammer and a chisel to destroy parts of the bust after blackenening it completely.A red inked poster was placed written 'RADICAL', an ultra-Left student outfit. The group, five men and a woman, chanted slogans protesting the razing of Lenin’s statue in Tripura.

West Bengal Power Minister Shovandeb Chatterjee , also the local MLA, said the matter was intimated to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who ordered installation of a new statue of Syama Prasad Mookerjee. Mr Chatterjee said the sculptor, who had sculpted the bust, would be called for installation of a new statue.

He said the Chief Minister had already condemned the vandalisation of Lenin statue and said they would not tolerate such act of damaging statues and idols.The BJP also condemned the vandalising of Dr Syama Prasad Mukherjee bust. " We demand very strong action against the culprits,” BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu said.BJP president Dilip Ghosh said the bust would be restored there with a new look.(UNI)