Vallabhbhai Patel's statue garlanded with empty soft drink bottles in Gujarat's Gandhinagar district; police launch probe

Ahmedabad: A statue of India’s first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was found desecrated in Shertha village of Gujarat’s Gandhinagar district, the latest in a series of vandalism of statues of popular personalities across the country.

According to police, some unidentified persons garlanded the statue on Tuesday night with empty cold drink bottles and grass. The statue was unveiled by BJP patriarch LK Advani in October, 1992. [caption id=“attachment_1613391” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] The incident came to light after some villagers spotted the garland placed on the statue and approached police, said Adalaj police inspector JG Vaghela. “We have initiated investigation into the matter and sought CCTV footage from around the area to identify the persons involved in this case. We are also in the process of registering an FIR,” he said. The villagers later removed the garland from the statue. Two jawans of home guard and a police constable are stationed near the statue, Vaghela added. The statue of EV Ramasamy, also known as ‘Periyar’, was found decapitated in Viduthi village of Tamil Nadu on 19 March. Desecration of Periyar statues was also reported from Vellore and Pudukottai districts of the southern state. In Tripura, a statue of communist icon Lenin was pulled down by some people with an excavator machine on 6 March. Similarly, statues of Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Dalit icon BR Ambedkar were also vandalised in Kolkata and Meerut, respectively.