PHOTOS: Vandals attack Maya's statue, leave others intact

A statue of Bahujan Samaj Party supremo and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati in the heart of Lucknow was attacked by vandals on Thursday. The statue was attacked with a hammer, beheaded and its hands were chopped off.
 
The statue is one of the eight statues of Mayawati, installed during her five-year long regime, which came to an end in May when the Samajwadi Party routed the BSP in the assembly elections.

Reportage: Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

Click on NEXT for more...

Authorities suspect that an outfit called the Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena, whose pamphlets were found around the damaged statue, was behind the incident.
 
Barely an hour before the statue was attacked, a leader of the Navnirman Sena had addressed a press conference and demanded the destruction of all statues of Mayawati. He also flayed the ruling Samajwadi Party government for not keeping its electoral promise of pulling down the statues and converting the multi-crore memorials into educational institutions and hospitals.

Click on NEXT for more...

Strangely, while there is a full-fledged security contingent stationed in and around the Rs 1,500-crore Ambedkar Park-cum-memorial complex, where the statue was installed, no one tried to confront or stop the miscreants.

Eyewitnesses claimed that two motor-cycle borne men had halted near the statue and attacked it with a hammer.

Click on NEXT for more...

Incidentally, the vandals only targeted Mayawati's statue. They left the statues of other Dalit icons in the park -- Babasaheb Ambedkar, BSP founder and Mayawati's mentor Kanshi Ram, social reformer Jyotiba Phule among others -- unharmed.
 
BSP spokesperson Swami Prasad Maurya pointedly blamed the incident on the ruling Samajwadi Party and threatened to launch a massive agitation, "unless the statue was repaired immediately by the government."

Click on NEXT for more...

Embarrassed by this blatant act of vandalism, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav issued a press statement condemning the incident.

"We will bring the guilty to book. I have already issued instructions for immediate repair of the damaged statue," he said, adding that it was an, "attempt to vitiate the prevailing harmonious social environment in the state."

Click on NEXT for more...

...