A statue of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was pulled down by unidentified persons in Assam’s Cachar district using an excavator, PTI quoted the police as saying on Wednesday.
The incident reportedly took place on Monday night at Pailapool market in the Lakhipur police station area.
A person has been detained and the excavator used to bring down the 10-foot-tall statue has been seized, the police said.
“We have not found any eyewitness to the incident,” Lakhipur Police Station Officer-in-Charge Sankar Dayal told PTI. “It was on a CCTV footage that some unknown miscreants were seen demolishing the statue with the help of an excavator.”
Congress’ Silchar president Sajal Acherjee alleged that the act was a planned move “done to create tension among the people ahead of the elections”, PTI reported.
Assembly elections in the state are expected to be held in March or April.
Congress leader Pradeep Kumar said that the statue was installed in 2000 in front of the Nehru College, the Hindustan Times reported.
The party’s Assam unit sought “strict and exemplary action against the perpetrators”.
The Congress has long accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government of attempting to wipe out the legacy of Nehru, the first prime minister of the country.
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