Modi denounces toppling Lenin’s statues in Tripura

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has disapproved of the pulling down of statues of Communist icon Vladimir Lenin in Tripura and another leader in southern state of Tamil Nadu. 

Modi spoke to federal Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the issue and expressed his strong disapproval of the incidents of vandalism, our New Delhi correspondent reports.

Taking a serious note of toppling of the statues, the Home Ministry has sent a written communication toll states to take all necessary measures to prevent such incidents.

Read more: India pulls down Lenin statue in Tripura

"Incidents of toppling of statutes have been reported from certain parts of the country. Union Ministry of Home Affairs has taken serious note of such incidents of vandalism. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has expressed his strong disapproval of such incidents," read a statement of Indian Home Ministry.

The ministry "has asked the states that they must take all necessary measures to prevent such incidents. Persons indulging in such acts must be sternly dealt with and booked under relevant provisions of law. The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi also spoke to the Union Home Minister in this regard," the statement also read.

Two statues of Lenin installed in Belonia and Sabroom towns of Tripura during the Communist rule in the state were brought down allegedly by BJP activists two days after state election results were announced.

Also, a statue of Tamil icon EVR Ramaswamy was vandalised in Tamil Nadu's Vellore last night, hours after a state BJP leader H Raza suggested it in his Facebook post responding to anger over a statue of Lenin being pulled down in Tripura. He later deleted the post and expressed regret.

Meanwhile, a statue of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of Bharatiya Jan Sangh, forerunner of BJP, was vandalised in south Kolkata this morning with BJP and CPI(M) accusing each other of being responsible for the incident, Indian media reported.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy yesterday defended pulling down of Lenin's statues in Tripura, terming the Russian leader was "a terrorist" and questioned if the statue of such a person could be installed in India.

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Swamy also suggested communist leaders to install Lenin's statue inside their party headquarters and "worship" him, if they want.

"Lenin was a foreigner. He was, in a way, a terrorist because the number of people he killed there (in Russia) after imposing dictatorship. And (you) want statue of such a person erected in our country?" Swamy said.

Speaking on the same issue, Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir told a news channel that he considered Indian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jan Sangh ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya as his idols, and not some "foreign leadership".

"However, there is no place for violence in democracy," said Ahir.

CPI(M), which was defeated in Tripura polls, has accused BJP workers of pulling down Lenin's statues.

Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy, responding late on Monday to a tweet on the pulling down of Lenin's statues, appeared to justify the action.

In a series of posts on Twitter, he wrote that "What one democratically elected government can do another democratically elected government can undo. And vice versa."