 Security personnel guard the statue of Dr BR Ambedkar in Jalandhar.
“He is dead and buried now, though; let him rest, let him rot. Let his vices be forgotten, but his virtues be remembered; it will not infringe much upon any man's time.”
This quotation from the book Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain mirrors the general belief of society. But, there are some elements in the society who believe otherwise. It is because of these reasons that some legends, even though no more in this world, have to guarded, in the form of statue. That’s exactly what is happening in Jalandhar for the past four months.
The story began on May 14, hardly 13 days after the installation of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh statute. President of SAD (Amritsar) Simranjit Singh Mann and chief of SAD (Zafarwal) Wasan Singh Zafarwal allegedly tried to disgrace the statue by hanging a portrait of Beant’s assassin around his neck at the prominent BMC Chowk. Following the incident, the district police has put its men for round the clock vigil at the site. Mann even demanded removal of the statue blaming Beant Singh for killing Sikhs during his tenure.
While Mann still remains in judicial custody on charges of sedition, the district police too continues to keep the statues protected by deploying its personnel at both the sites.
Not just Beant Singh’s statute, even the massive replica of Dr B.R. Ambedkar at the Nakodar Chowk in Jalandhar had been given a security cover. The policemen have been camping in the tent put up within the circumference of the roundabout, which has on the contrary resulted in spoiling the beauty of the structure. SP headquarters Satinder Singh, said, “We do not want an incident of the sort to re-occur. Security has been deployed and it will remain in place as general precaution.”
In fact, the Beant Singh’s statue has been in a controversy even before it was unveiled. While the municipal corporation Jalandhar had erected the statue in the last week of December 2006, it could not be unveiled by leaders of the previous Congress government owing to imposition of code of conduct.
Even after the elections were over, the local authorities took it too long to plan the event. The statue, which had since then been wrapped in a jute cloth was uncovered by some mischievous persons one night.
The statue was then wrapped in a white cloth on the orders of the administration. Beant Singh’s daughter, Gurkanwal Kaur, former minister, too had expressed her annoyance over the issue. Later in a ceremony held on May 1, leader of the opposition, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, formally inaugurated the statue.
Dr Ambedkar’s statue in Jalandhar was probably also given a cover owing to an incident of desecration of the Dalit icon by defacing it in November last year. A statue of the architect of the constitution had also been found damaged a few weeks later at Allahabad.
Regarding such incidents, Dr Satish Kapoor, a historian and principal of Lyallpur Khalsa College Jalandhar, said, “Statues tend to become idols once they are placed at any intersection. Any mischief that results in an insult of the statue, therefore, becomes a major issue. Such an incident has to be checked or it could lead to flaring up of tempers as has been happening earlier. A public awakening needs to be created on the issue. Even Bible preaches respect of the dead.”
Kuldeep Singh Oberoi, an Akali councillor in Jalandhar, opined, “Statues should be erected only after much consideration for they have to be preserved and guarded later. The city has a number of statues of martyrs, political leaders and freedom fighters but most of these remain covered with banners, hoardings and buntings at the time of any occasion which too causes their insult.”
Interestingly, the city has a number of statues erected at its roundabouts and intersections including those of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Kirti Chakra awardee Major Raman Dada and Bhagat Singh but these are not being guarded as these have not remained in any controversy ever since their installation.
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