CHENNAI: Hundreds of VCK members courted arrest across Tamil Nadu on Monday by blocking roads and stopping trains in protest against the damage caused to the Ambedkar statue by miscreants at Vedaranyam.
The VCK members demonstrated at 18 places in Chennai alone, blocking traffic and raising slogans, besides engaging the police in hot verbal exchanges. “Over 500 party members were detained by the police in the city. They were all released late evening”, VCK deputy general secretary Vanni Arasu told DC.
He said VCK has demanded that the government should replace all the Ambedkar statues with life-size bronze statues befitting the service done by the great leader to the nation and to the downtrodden. “What is happening now is that the police hide the Ambedkar statues inside an enclosure covered by wire-mesh under the pretext of providing them security from vandals. We want people to see the statues, which must all be made of bronze and be placed on elevated pedastals”, the VCK leader said.
He regretted that the persons responsible for the statue damage at Vedaranyam had not been arrested yet. “We demand that they should be the detained under the NSA and the Goondas Act”, he said.
