Gurdaspur, April 03: Two days after a statue of BR Ambedkar was defaced in Jalandhar’s Nangal village, another was allegedly damaged in Batala, Gurdaspur, on Wednesday.
Dalit organizations staged protests around the Batala statue in the morning, claiming its finger was broken and that it had been pelted with stones. However, police mentioned they were investigating whether the damage occurred naturally or was deliberate.
“We are verifying claims that the finger was already broken before the alleged incident. No stones were found near the statue,” said Batala DSP (City) Sanjeev Kumar.
Recent Vandalism Linked to SFJ
The Batala incident follows the March 31 defacement of an Ambedkar statue in Nangal, where a Khalistani flag and graffiti reading ‘Sikhs are not Hindus’ were placed on it. US-based banned outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) took responsibility, with its leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun calling it “just a trailer” and threatening to remove all Ambedkar statues from Punjab before April 14.
Two months ago, another statue of Ambedkar was vandalized on Heritage Street near the Golden Temple in Amritsar. A youth, identified as Akash Singh from Moga, attempted to damage it on January 26.
Authorities have launched investigations into all three incidents.
