Vidyasagar bust vandalism not political issue: Trinamool

Days after the statue of Bengali polymath Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in Kolkata was vandalised during BJP President Amit Shah's roadshow in the city, West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee on Friday said the Trinamool Congress is not using it as a political issue.

"This is not a political issue, but I have said that the state government had prior plans to mark the 200 years of Vidyasagar's birth," Chatterjee told reporters here.

All educational institutes in the state had been directed, months ago, to observe Vidyasagar's 200th birthday by organising cultural activities during September 20-26, 2019, the Minister said.

Chatterjee said that the state government had, on February 13, 2019, decided to collect the various articles used by Vidyasagar, which are kept across the state, and bring all these for displaying in a single musuem.

"We will increase the pace of this project and see that this college becomes a heritage site," he said.

The Trinamool leader spoke about the video clips of the vanadalism incident where the attackers are seen wearing saffron scarves.

"The way BJP workers desecrated Vidyasagar's bust may not have ashamed them, but it has made all of us bow our heads with shame," he added.

He lamented that he had "never seen such ugly political attacks."

"They will only destroy our history and culture," he said.

Regarding the latest transfer of two police officers by the Election Commission (EC), Chatterjee said this revealed the fact that the EC is working in tandem with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Election Commission on Thursday removed two police officers with clear instructions against their involvement in election duties.

As per an EC notification, the Diamond Harbour Sub-Divisional Police Officer SDPO) Mithun Kumar Dey and the Officer-in-Charge of Amherst Street police station, Kausik Das, were relieved from their posts with immediate effect.

The statement also said that "both the officers shall not be given any election-related posts".

--IANS

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