Netaji's bust vandalised in Kolkata, AIFB protests

A bust of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was found vandalised in a park in the city's Narkeldanga area today, triggering protest by local people and workers of the All India Forward Bloc which he founded.

A complaint was lodged at the Narkeldanga police station against unknown persons by AIFB activists, a senior Kolkata Police officer said.

"The bust of Netaji was damaged probably last evening or last night. Some of the residents in the area spotted it this morning and it was brought to our notice. We are looking into the matter," the officer said.

The bust was erected at the park 10 years ago during the Left Front rule.

"We have lodged a complaint at the police station. We want the police to take action against the culprits. Otherwise, we will start demonstrations outside the police station," general secretary of the Forward Bloc's youth wing Sudipto Banerjee said.

The bust has now been covered with a piece of cloth and work to restore it would start soon, the officer said.

Bose had formed the AIFB in 1939 after resigning as the president of the Indian National Congress. It re-established itself as an independent political party after Independence.

Statues of several political leaders were damaged across the country in the recent past.

The statue of communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin was razed with a bulldozer by a group of people in Belonia town, 90 km from Agartala, after the BJP-IPFT coalition came to power ending the 25-year-old CPI(M)-led Left Front rule.

The statues of Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee and Dalit icon B R Ambedkar, among others, were vandalised drawing widespread condemnation.