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Journalism of Courage
CHENNAI, SEPT 21: Three persons were arrested in connection with the disfigurement of a bust of Dr B R Ambedkar near Madurai last night, while the situation in Chennai and Tindivanam, where the incident had violent reactions, was calm, police said here today.
The persons held belonged to a non-Dalit caste and were residents of a colony at Avaniapuram, the Madurai suburb where the incident took place, police said.
Provoked by news of damage to Ambedkar8217;s statue, a group of Dalit students belonging to a State-run hostel in the city, blocked traffic and stoned about a dozen buses on Arterial Anna road here last night and resorted to a road block this morning, too.
However, the police, who had persuaded them to return to their hostel last night, rounded up the protesters this morning and later released them, police said.
At Tindivanam, protesters damaged several State transport buses and private shops last night, leading to the police firing a few shots in the air to disperse them.
A police official said the authorities did not arrest any of them as they did not want the situation to worsen. The agitators were in a volatile mood, he added.
Meanwhile, the Tindivanam district administration held an all-party meeting to defuse the tension.
TNCC president Tindivanam K Ramamurthy and Puthiya Tamizhagam founder K Krishnasamy condemned the damage caused to Ambedkar8217;s bust-sized statue and the violence that followed the incident.
In a statement here, Ramamurthy said the police should take impartial action against those who had vented their casteist anger on Ambedkar8217;s bust. The violent protests at Tindivanam which lead to the police firing in the air was a sign of the worsening law and order situation in the State, he said.
Recalling that a commission of inquiry had been appointed to probe a similar incident 8212; when an Ambedkar statue was found with a garland of slippers at Tindivanam during the 1998 elections 8212; Ramamurthy said the probe panel8217;s report was not made public and the culprits went scot-free, despite the police and the Government identifying them.
The TNCC would send a team to ascertain the facts relating to the latest incidents at Tindivanam, he added.
Krishnasamy, who sought the immediate arrest of the real culprits, appealed to Dalits not to resort to violence. They should defeat the designs of those who wanted to provoke them with a view to labelling the Dalits as a violent group. 8220;We should express our feelings in a sober manner and not get carried away by anger,8221; he added.
