People staging a protest on Tuesday condemning the desecration of an Ambedkar statue at Lumbini Gardens in Kotnoor (D) on the outskirts of Kalaburagi.
| Photo Credit: ARUN KULKARNI
Spontaneous protests hit Kalaburagi city on Tuesday as the news of defilement of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s statue spread quickly early in the morning and continued through the day. However, the situation was brought under control by evening.
Led by different factions of Dalit organisations and progressive outfits, hundreds of people took to the streets condemning the dishonour to the architect of the Constitution at Lumbini Gardens in Kotnoor (D) village on the outskirts of the city late on Monday.
Just as the villagers discovered on Tuesday morning that miscreants had defiled the statue with a garland of footwear, spontaneous protests by residents and local people started in the area.
Soon, there were protests in other parts and vehicular movement was hit.
A group of youths took out a bike rally across the city forcing business establishments to pull down their shutters.
There was some tension when some agitators hurled stones at a petrol bunk owned by BJP city unit president Chandrakanth Patil.
The agitators also gheraoed the vehicle of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Kanika Sikriwal at two places and demanded the immediate arrest of the miscreants.
Ms. Sikriwal visited the spot at Kotnoor (D) village and paid floral tribute to Dr. Ambedkar in an attempt to bring the situation under control.
Deputy Commissioner Fouzia Tarannum too paid floral tribute to Dr. Ambedkar.
Terming the miscreants as anti-social elements who were attempting to tear the harmonious social fabric, Ms. Tarannum assured that action will be taken against those involved.
By evening, calm prevailed as police forces were deployed at vital locations across the city.
A case has been registered at the University Police Station.
Ms. Sikriwal later said that two suspects have been taken into custody for interrogation. She added that three teams have been formed to arrest the culprits.