Statue politics takes off in Punjab's Ludhiana: Youth Akali workers deface Rajiv Gandhi bust, Congress workers clean it with milk

Staging a protest over the 1984 anto-Sikh riots, some workers of the youth wing of Akali Dal defaced a statue of Rajiv Gandhi in Punjab’s Ludhiana district, News18 reported. However, as the news spread, angry Congress workers gathered at the spot and cleaned off the bust with milk and water. A Congress worker, speaking to CNN-News18 said that the act of defiling a former prime minister’s statue is pathetic. He said that the Congress workers will not let Akalis rest and they will protest against this “goondaism” at all costs. The genocide of the Sikh people following former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s death was back in news again after Congress leader Kamal Nath took oath as Madhya Pradesh chief minister. Although Nath doesn’t face criminal charges he was named by several eye-witnesses as being a part of the mob that killed Sikhs.

#NewsAlert – @officialYAD workers blacken Rajiv Gandhi’s statue in Ludhiana. | @jyotik with more details pic.twitter.com/DhYXU3IbLL

— News18 (@CNNnews18) December 25, 2018

The controversy spilled over to New Delhi when the Delhi Assembly passed a resolution demanding swift justice to the victims of the massacre. An amendment in the resolution, which wasn't passed by the Assembly, also urged the Centre to take back the Bharat Ratna conferred posthumously on the late prime minister. The Akali Dal, which is in Opposition in Punjab also made a similar demand. However, some youth wing leaders of the party, who were protesting near the statue, climbed on to the dais and sprayed black paint over the former prime minister’s statue. The matter comes against the backdrop of former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar’s conviction in a 1984 anti-Sikh riot case. Kumar quit the party following his conviction in a case related to the riots that followed former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Rajiv Gandhi, who took over the reins of the party and the government following his mother’s demise, was posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, in 1991.