LUCKNOW: Going a step further after painting government buildings, Dr Ambedkar's statue and toilets in saffron, a 20-year-old statue of Mahatma Gandhi was painted orange in Shahjahapur district of Uttar Pradesh recently.
According to local police sources, the white-coloured statue of Mahatma Gandhi, installed at the gram sabha land in Dhaka Ghanshyampur in Shahjahanpur, was painted saffron on Wednesday night by some unknown miscreants. Tension gripped the area as the villagers found the statue painted in saffron. Local Congress workers gathered at the sot in huge number and they squarely blamed the local BJP leaders behind the act.
On getting the information, district police officials rushed to the spot to pacify the agitated Congress leaders and party workers who were demanding identification and immediate action against the miscreants. They also asked the administration to get the statue repainted in original white or else threatened to launch a big stir on the issue.
Calling it a sheer disrespect to the father of nation, the district Congress leaders claimed that it was allegedly done by the BJP and RSS workers deliberately to digress people's attention from real issues of the area.
However, expressing their ignorance over the issue, the local BJP leaders denied party's role in the act. "BJP will never indulge in any such act. We respect Mahatma Gandhi and won't do anything to bring a bad name to our party. We will never do anything to lower the dignity of the father of nation," said a senior BJP leader from Shahjahanpur. He added that it seemed to be the handiwork of some miscreants who did it to tarnish BJP's image.
While a probe has been ordered into the incident, district police are keeping a tight vigil on the situation to avert any untoward incident. The statute was being re-painted in white colour to defuse rising passions.