A bust of freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose was found vandalised in Kolkata’s Narkeldanga area on Wednesday, The Indian Express reported. Residents of the area, who protested outside the local police station demanding action, claimed that the statue was “deliberately” vandalised to create trouble.
“We submitted a complaint at the police station and have given them a day’s time to find out who are behind the incident,” said Sudipto Banerjee, General Secretary of Forward Bloc’s youth wing, told the daily. “If no action is taken, we will stage demonstrations outside the police station.”
The statue was inaugurated at Netaji Park about 10 years ago under the Left Front regime, reported Times Now. “These [vandalism] are acts done by perverted people,” All India General Secretary of Forward Bloc Debabrato Biswas told The Indian Express. “It proves how intolerant we are.”
Chandra Kumar Bose, the grand nephew of Subhas Chandra Bose and the BJP’s vice president for West Bengal, demanded the arrest of those who damaged the statue.
There have been several incidents of statues being vandalised across the country. In March, an Ambedkar statue in Allahabad was decapitated and vandalised. Statues of communist leader Lenin, social reformer Periyar and Jana Sangh leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee too have been vandalised in the past year.
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