Workers of Opposition parties poured water from the Ganga on a statue of B.R. Ambedkar in Begusarai district of Bihar on Saturday in what they called a “purification” act after Union Minister Giriraj Singh garlanded it during a BJP programme.
The BJP MP from Begusarai does politics of hate and by garlanding the statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, he defiled the statue and so we purified it today with holy water, said workers of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Communist Party of India and the Bahujan Kranti Manch. They chanted “Jai Bheem” while pouring water on the statue at the Ambedkar Park on the Ballia block office premises and posted videos of the “purification” on social media.
Local BJP leaders and workers have condemned the “purification” ritual.
“Such acts remind us of pre-Partition time and will not be tolerated… Ambedkar has been an ideal for all sections of society and no one has got monopoly over him,” Begusarai BJP chief Raj Kishore Singh told presspersons.
Mr. Giriraj Singh had undertaken the Bharatvanshi Jagriti Yatra from Sahebpur Kalam to Ballia as part of the BJP’s efforts to create awareness of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. At Ballia, Mr. Singh garlanded the statue.
The Minister has often courted controversy with his hardline Hindutva statements.
