Some civilians and cops have been injured when locals in massive numbers in Bakshi Ka Talab’s Khantari village in Uttar Pradesh capital on Saturday afternoon allegedly resorted to stone pelting over elimination of Dr BR Ambedkar (1891-1956)’s statue put in on the federal government land, police stated.
Talks are occurring between the 2 sides to resolve the problem. (For Illustration)
“There has been a dispute over the installation of Babasaheb’s statue. Talks are going on between the two sides to resolve the issue. Some people have opposed the installation of the statue,” stated DCP (North), Lucknow, Gopal Krishan Choudhary.
“There is no exact figure yet as to how many people have been injured, but some policemen and some civilians have been injured,” Choudhary added.
“We got information that Babasaheb Ambedkar’s statue has been installed and some people are opposing it. Adequate police force has been deployed to prevent any untoward incident. The situation is normal at present,” he added. Talks have been additionally held between the native MLA and the individuals, the cop stated.
On getting data, SDM, Bakshi Ka Talab, Satish Chandra Tripathi reached the spot together with PAC and police personnel from a number of police stations.
The police fired 5 rounds of tear fuel shells in air to regulate the scenario. In the meantime, the police have detained Virendra Rawat, the husband of gram pradhan of Khantari village, in reference to the incident.
A big contingent of police drive was rushed to the village to regulate the scenario. As per stories, the statue was put in in entrance of a major college on gram samaj land on Thursday evening. On Friday, two teams within the village had a dispute over the set up of the statue.
BJP MLA from BKT Yogesh Shukla additionally reached the spot and interacted with locals to resolve the dispute. “We want the issue to be resolved peacefully. There was no permission to place the statue. We cannot break the system,” stated Shukla.
“I want that the statue should be kept and the wishes of the villagers should be fulfilled and this should be kept according to the law written by Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar”, he added.
On Saturday afternoon, a bit of villagers raised objection. After getting data, cops reached there and tried to pacify the villagers who had put in the statue. Nonetheless, the scenario took a critical flip when the agitated villagers allegedly pelted cops with stones.
The villagers opposing the set up alleged that the statue was put in on the gram samaj land on the gram pradhan’s proposal within the evening with out consulting the villagers.
The positioning the place the statue was put in is reportedly utilized by the villagers for varied functions, together with makeshift markets and marriage ceremony ceremonies.
On Saturday afternoon, a whole lot of villagers staged a sit-in on the Phadarpur crossing, demanding elimination of the statue. When cops arrived to take away the statue, the villagers resisted and the scenario escalated into violence.
The administration stated putting in a statue with out permission is a violation of the regulation and can’t be allowed. The villagers, nonetheless, argued that the statue was a matter of their religion and that eradicating it was not acceptable.
Until late within the night the scenario remained tense, with a major police presence there to take care of order. The administration was working to regain management of the scenario, and better authorities have been intently monitoring the developments.
The scenario in Khantari village remained delicate and efforts have been being made to resolve the problem peacefully, stated the native administration.