By james art 
In a shocking development, a man vandalized the statue of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar in Amritsar, Punjab on Republic Day 2025. The man climbed up the ladder mounted on the statue’s garland and began hitting it with a hammer, which broke the statue. The man punches the statue of Ambedkar several times. Not only that, but he also tried to damage the Constitution statue placed near the statue. The accident happened on st. “Heritage”, about 150 meters from the police station. The accused is reportedly a resident of Dharamkot, Amritsar and also belongs to the Scheduled Caste community.
The man was caught by bystanders and handed over to the police. After the Ambedkar statue vandalism incident, many opposition leaders visited the site.
Responding to the incident, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann wrote on his X handle, “ (Translated version) The incident of breaking the statue of Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar ji at the heritage street of Sri Amritsar Sahib is highly condemnable and no one will be forgiven. for this incident. Whoever is responsible for the incident he/she will be severely punished Brotherhood and Unity of Punjab instructions have been issued to the administration to investigate it and take strict action against the culprits.
Notably, Pawan Dravid, Chairman of the Maha Snan Prabandhak Committee at Shri Ram, called for Amritsar Bandh today. However, everything, schools and shops are currently open.
Amritsar Ambedkar statue controversy
Initially, the man set fire to the constitution book made of stone under Ambedkar’s statue. He then climbed onto the shoulders of the statue using a ladder, taking a large hammer in his hand. Standing there, he struck the statue several times. During this time there was much commotion on Heritage Street. When the people saw the young man doing all this, they asked him to come down. At first he argued with the people for a while and refused to come down, but then somehow he agreed. He dropped the hammer from above.
When the man came down, he was caught by two security guards. During this he also tried to free himself but failed. As the guards grabbed him and began to lead him to the police station, the crowd followed them. Then suddenly a stranger from the crowd slapped the young man.
The police are currently clarifying the family background of the accused youth and other information related to him. Police say the fire department put a ladder there in the morning to clean the statue. After the cleaning, there was also a death.