Lenin's statue

Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy and BJP MP Subramanium Swamy have condoned the act of BJP supporters who razed a statue of Communist revolutionary leader Lenin on Monday .
Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav also tweeted his approval of this act of hooliganism, but later deleted his tweet.

BJP workers with a bulldozer in tow illegally razed a statue of Lenin in a public square in Tripura’s Belonia.

BJP workers wearing saffron shirts and shouting “Bharat mata ki jai”, upend the statue of the Communist revolutionary hero from its pedestal.

In response to a tweet by author Anand Ranganathan, who called the act “unacceptable”, governor Roy said, “What one democratically elected government can do another democratically elected government can undo. And vice versa.”
Roy didn’t mention the fact that destroying public property is illegal and a punishable offence.

Meanwhile, BJP MP Swamy also appeared to condone the act.

“Lenin is a foreigner and in a way, a terrorist, there shouldn’t be a statue of this sort of person in our country? They are welcome to put that statue inside the Communist Party headquarters and worship it if they so wish,” Swamy told reporters.

Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav also appeared to have taken pleasure in the razing of public property. In a tweet he later deleted, Madhav said, “People taking down Lenin’s statue…not in Russia; it is in Tripura. ‘Chalo Paltai’ ” The last two words are Bengali for: “Let’s change”.

All of this occurred as Tripura police yesterday got scores of complaints about post-poll violence from various parts of the state since Sunday, and despite the BJP warning its supporters of “stern” action if they indulged in “post-poll violence”.

Union minister Rajnath Singh even called the Tripura governor this morning to discuss the law and order situation in the state.

The CPM accused Governor Roy of being in cahoots with the BJP, in inciting the violence.

A JD (U) MP – whose party had divided loyalties in the elections in the three northeastern states – on Tuesday, expressed his disapproval of the razing of Lenin’s statue.