Days ahead of the incident, the BJP’s student wing had protested the installation of the statue.
Police
have arrested four people in connection with vandalizing a statue of
Don Bosco and dumping it the Bharalu river, near Guwahati last Friday.
The
arrested are members of the local branch of the Hindu right-wing
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), reported Vatican Radio. They were arrested
on Friday.
The statue was attacked on Thursday, on the eve of
its planned public installation as part of the worldwide celebration of
the 200th birth anniversary of the founder of the Society of Don Bosco.
It had been placed on a pedestal on the shore of Bharulu, a tributary of
the Brahmaputra, to be unveiled Friday morning.
According to an
eyewitness, hours before the ceremony, a group of more than 100 people
began pelting stones and flower vases at the statue and then threw it
into the river. As a result, the arm of the statue broke.
Days
ahead of the incident, the BJP’s student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi
Parishad, had protested against the installation of the monument.
Those
oppose the installation of the statue allege that the Italian spiritual
leader has not contributed anything to the Assamese society, and found
it offensive to install his statue along with socio-political leaders of
Assam at a public place.
They said the state’s ruling party,
Congress, approved the installation of the statue to please their party
president Sonia Gandhi, who is an Italian by birth.
State Chief
Minister Tarun Gogoi has “strongly condemned” the incident saying, “we
must acknowledge the contribution made by John Bosco in the field of
education and society at large.”
“This incident is unfortunate
and some elements are responsible. Disagreement and dissent must be seen
in a positive light, but to desecrate and then throw the statue into
the river wounds our religious sentiment," Gogoi added.
Source: Vatican Radio
