Two BJP activists detained for attempting to damage Vladimir Lenin statue in Kolkata

Kolkata: A clash broke out between two groups allegedly belonging to the CPM and RSS-backed organisations over attempts to damage a statue of communist leader Vladimir Lenin in Jadavpur area on Thursday night, police said. The groups got involved in the clash after the RSS-backed units allegedly tried to vandalise Lenin’s statue located near Jadavpur 8B bus stand, they said. [caption id=“attachment_4097425” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] A senior officer of Kolkata Police said two BJP activists have been detained at Jadavpur Police Station in this connection. CPM leader Satarup Ghosh claimed that he along with some of his party supporters blocked a few RSS activists, who tried to damage the statue. “They have vandalised a statue of Lenin in Tripura and if they think of repeating the same here, we will not allow them to do that,” Ghosh said. Large number of police personnel have been deployed in the area to check any untoward incident, the officer said. A statue of Lenin was pulled down by some people with an excavator machine at College Square in Belonia sub-division of South Tripura district, with the CPM holding BJP workers responsible for the incident. In south Kolkata, a bust of Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee was also vandalised on Wednesday by seven persons, including a woman, allegedly belonging to a left-wing group ‘Radical’. All the seven persons have been arrested.