In a shocking development, a man vandalised Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar's statue in Amritsar, Punjab on Republic Day 2025. The man climbed the ladder installed to garland the statue and started hitting it with a hammer, which broke the statue. The man hit Ambedkar's statue multiple times. Not only this but he also tried to damage the statue of the Constitution placed near the statue. The incident took place on Heritage Street, about 150 meters from the police station. The accused has been identified as Aakash Singh and he is a resident of Dharamkot, of Moga district. He also belongs to the Scheduled Caste community.
The man was caught by people nearby and he was handed over to the Police. After Ambedkar's statue vandalisation incident, many opposition leaders visited the spot.
Responding to the incident, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on his X handle wrote, " (Translated version) The incident of breaking the statue of Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar ji on the heritage street of Shri Amritsar Sahib is highly condemnable and no one will be forgiven for this incident. Whoever is responsible for the incident, he/she will be severely punished. No one will be allowed to break the brotherhood and unity of Punjab. Instructions have been issued to the administration to investigate it and take strict action against the culprits."
Notably, Pawan Dravid, Chairman of the Maha Snan Prabandhak Committee at Shri Ram, has called for Amritsar Bandh today. However, everything, schools and shops are currently open.
Amritsar Ambedkar statue controversy
At first, the man set the constitution book made of stone below Ambedkar's statue on fire. Then he climbed to the shoulders of the statue with the help of a ladder, taking a big hammer in his hand. Standing there, he hit the statue multiple times. During this time, there was a lot of hustle and bustle on Heritage Street. When people saw the youth doing all this, they asked him to come down. At first, he argued with the people for a while and refused to come down, but then he somehow agreed. He dropped the hammer from the top.
When the man came down, he was caught by two security guards. During this, he also tried to free himself but failed. When the guards caught him and started taking him towards the police station, the crowd also started walking with them. Then suddenly an unknown person from the crowd slapped the youth.
The police is currently trying to find out the family background of the accused youth and other information related to him. The police say that the fire brigade had placed a ladder there in the morning to clean the statue. After the cleaning, a garland ceremony was also held there.