Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Maharashtra violence

In the light of the Dalit unrest in Maharashtra over the desecration of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's statue in Kanpur, and many similar instances, the Government should bring legislation banning installation of statues of any leader in public places. It is not possible for the state to protect all the statues at all times. Violent incidents only increase communal divisions in society.

T.S. Renganathan,
Bangalore

I can understand the indignation and anger of Dalits at the desecration of the statue. But nothing can condone violence. For a stray incident such as the one in Kanpur, the natural course of action should have been to lodge a complaint and let the law deal with it. Local leaders could have defused the situation and the Government could have contained it by promising to install a new statue and bring the culprits to book. Unfortunately, disgruntled politicians manipulated the incident and the media gladly pitched in.

Nothing has been achieved by this violence except a waste of honest taxpayers' money.

A. Bharathy Reddy,
Secunderabad

The best thing to do would be to remove all statues from public places. Divisive politics benefits the political system but seldom the affected people.

Raghubir Singh,
Pune

The desecration of leaders' statues is increasingly giving rise to unrest, leading to the loss of lives and property. Taxpayers not only pay for the installation of the statues but also for the loss of public property in riots that follow the desecration if and when it takes place. It is time a ban was imposed on the installation of statues.

Amjad K. Maruf,
Mumbai

One wonders when people will learn that damaging public property will achieve nothing. They should learn to express dissent in a more civilised and non-violent manner. The statue desecration was blown up by the media. They should refrain from sensationalising such sensitive issues.

B. Sreelakshmi,
Chennai

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