As the statue controversy continues to play out across the country, triggered by the razing of two Lenin statues in Tripura, Pradyot Deb Barman – the head of the royal family of Tripura – has criticised the vandalism, saying that his grandfather, Maharaja Bir Bikram, should not be dragged into the whole row.
In two tweets that Barman posted on Wednesday, 7 March, he asserted that "suggestions that Maharaja's statues will replace Lenin and Marx is disappointing (sic)".
In another tweet, Barman said that instead of having his grandfather’s statue replacing those of Lenin and Marx, he "would rather see a scholarship for students in Bir Bikram's name".
Barman is reportedly the working president of the Tripura Pradesh Congress, and also serves as the editor of The North East Today, which describes itself as the "Northeast's first fully digital news portal".
Notably, Bir Bikram was the last king of Tripura, ruling the state from 1908 to 1947. In the Tripura poll campaign, the BJP had reportedly emphasised on the royal lineage of the state, as it promised to rename the Agartala airport after Maharaja Bir Bikram.
Moreover, in September 2016, the BJP had declared that it plans to construct a 184-feet-high ‘statue of unity’ of the Maharaja in the state capital, saying that the party was inspired by a statue of Sardar Patel.
Apart from Tripura, the states of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have also seen vandalism in the last few days. Statues of Periyar and Syama Prasad Mukherjee were damaged in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, respectively. Furthermore, a BR Ambedkar statue was vandalised by miscreants in Mawana, close to Meerut, on Tuesday, 6 March.
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