Razing statues: Modi speaks to Rajnath, MHA issues advisory

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh over incidents of toppling of statues in various parts of the country post the BJP's victory in Tripura.

Following the talks, the Home Ministry issued advisories to states asking them to take all necessary precautions to prevent such incidents.

"Incidents of toppling of statues have been reported from certain parts of the country. Union Ministry of Home Affairs has taken serious note of such incidents of vandalism," an official statement said.

Singh has expressed strong disapproval over such incidents, it said.

"Persons indulging in such acts must be sternly dealt with and booked under relevant provisions of law," the statement added.

Violence erupted in various parts of the country, including Tripura and West Bengal, after two statues of Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin were razed by the BJP activists in southern Tripura.

According to an earlier report, an 11.5-feet fibre statue of Lenin was brought down with a bulldozer by the Bharatiya Janata Party activists in Belonia on Monday.

Rajnath Singh had on Tuesday spoken to Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy and state Police chief Akhil Kumar Shukla, requesting them to take steps to control the violence, ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of the new BJP government.

Late on Tuesday, two persons were arrested in Tamil Nadu's Vellore district for vandalising statue of rationalist movement founder E.V. Ramasamy or Periyar.

--IANS

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