B.R. Ambedkar’s statues are being vandalised with alarming regularity in Uttar Pradesh, with some observers linking it to a scramble among parties for Dalit votes in the state ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.

At least four statues of the Dalit icon have been damaged in March itself.

On Monday night, unidentified people beheaded a statue at Bhagwanpur village in Meerut district. It was scheduled to be unveiled in a week.

A section of villagers claimed it was the handiwork of some upper-caste men aligned with the BJP.

However, Rishipal Bhandari, a local panchayat leader associated with the BJP, said: “The statue was supposed to be unveiled by a BJP leader on March 30. But those who didn’t want it in
the village desecrated it. We have informed the police and are waiting for the arrest of the culprits.”

Villager Anand Pal said the statue was caught in the infighting among local BJP leaders. “Trying to woo Dalits, some Hindutva leaders wanted to install it, but another group damaged it. The attackers didn’t like Ambedkar and disliked those who had planned to unveil it.”

Pal said there was a rumour in the village that some Dalits who didn’t want the BJP to use Ambedkar for political mileage damaged the statue themselves. A large number of villagers gathered near the statue and organised a dharna on Tuesday.

On March 22, some people broke an Ambedkar statue at Rataura village in Allahabad district. Station house officer Sanjay Kumar Gupta said the matter was being probed.

Bahujan Samaj Party leader Neeraj Pasi said: “The police don’t take such cases seriously. Several such incidents have occurred across the state recently, but no arrests have been made. The angry Dalits stage dharnas, get tired and return home. The government also forgets such incidents very quickly.”

On March 20, another Ambedkar statue was vandalised at Dilla village in Ghazipur district. The culprits are still unidentified.

On March 14, a statue was smashed at Pipara Maroda village in Lakhimpur
Kheri district.

Vipin Kumar, a villager, said: “The police have failed to identify the culprits, but
the entire village knows them. We can’t file a case against them because they can harm us. The police filed the case on their own against unknown people.”

A police officer in Lucknow said earlier upper-caste people used to attack the Dalit icon’s statues. “However, now several parties fear an erosion of their Dalit vote base. Acting out of this insecurity, they vandalise Ambedkar’s statues to frustrate the design of upper caste-based parties and prevent a split in Dalit votes,” he said on the condition of anonymity.