On Sunday evening, the statue of Ambedkar was broken following caste clashes in Vedaranyam. A member of a dominant caste had also shot a video of the whole incident while excitedly urging the mob to take down the entire statue after breaking the head off. The video sent shockwaves on social media, following which people began to use the hashtag #1000AmbedkarsRaised. The hashtags were followed by statements like — 'Dead Ambedkar is more dangerous than an Alive Ambedkar', 'People can destroy his statues but not his ideology'. Ambedkar's Caravan, an anti-caste platform also invited people to trend the hashtag on Monday evening.
The Sunday incident follows the protests against the demolition of the Ravidas temple in Tuglaqbad in Delhi and the arrest of Bhim Army members. Thousands took to the streets to protest against the demolition of the Dalit spiritual leaders who had contributed greatly to the anti-caste movement. The Bhim Army leader seems to still be under arrest for allegedly causing violence during the protest. However, the Sunday incident seems to have been caused by brewing caste clashes in the region but again, this is not the first time that Ambedkar's statue has been vandalised, just last year, a similar incident took place in Karuppur and even in a residential area in Chennai.
This time around though, members of the Dalit community and other anti-caste supporters took to social media to promote the hashtag. While condemning those who vandalised the statue, they also said that if — one Ambedkar statue is down, a #1000AmbedkarswillRise. Many also attached their status with the picture by Dalit cartoonist, Syamsundar Vunnamati of a decapitated Ambedkar statue with a hundred other statues next to it. Vunnamati had drawn this cartoon after the controversy surrounding a cartoon that had been published in the NCERT textbook.
Some of the statues are — Ambedkar is no more a person or a statue now. It has become thought & ideology now. You can destroy the statue, or you can kill the person. But you can't erase thoughts, or you can't destroy an ideology.#1000AmbedkarRaised, These aren’t just any statues made of clay BUT are a symbol of Representation, of Resistance and of Resilience. If you insult one Ambedkar, there will be #1000ambedkarraised at every medium, place, and most importantly our souls, Feel very depressed and angry when I saw that video of vandalism of statue Culprits must be arrested. #AmbedkarStatue #1000AmbedkarRaised, "I am the most hated man in Hindu India" ‒ Dr. Babasaheb #Ambedkar Remember You people can Destroy his Statues. But not his ideas. #1000AmbedkarRaised #AmbedkarStatue, We will Rise...We will Agitate... We will Educate... #1000AmbedkarRaised #NoToCaste.
Today, the Tamil Nadu government replaced the previous statue with a new bronze one and things are reportedly back to normal.
