Shahjahanpur (UP), March 29 The controversy over the demolition of statues of Kakori Train Action martyrs shows no signs of settling, as an organization has now written to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath opposing the reinstallation of the "damaged" figurines of the freedom fighters and demanding that new ones be put in their place.
Furthermore, questions are being raised about the suspension of junior engineer Pramod Kumar and assistant engineer Manoj Kumar over the demolition of the statues by a construction firm during road widening/beautification work, due to claims that the duo were on leave when the incident occurred.
The statues of martyrs Ashfaqulla Khan, Roshan Lal, and Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil — located within the Municipal Corporation office complex at the city's Town Hall — were demolished on the night of March 22, sparking outrage. Following directives from the chief minister, the statues were installed at the site on March 26.
However, it is claimed that instead of installing new statues, the administration merely repaired the old figures and re-erected them.
In this matter, an organization of the descendants of the freedom fighters — 'Swatantrata Sangram Senani Uttaradhikari Sangathan' — has written to CM Adityanath demanding the installation of new statues.
In the letter, Rajiv Kumar (president) and Vijay Tanha (general secretary) of the Sangathan said that the martyrs' statues were demolished under the cover of darkness, and within just 24 hours, those very same statues were repaired and reinstalled.
According to tradition, damaged or broken statues are not worshipped; therefore, out of respect and reverence to the martyrs, new statues should be installed, they said.
An FIR had been filed against the company on Tuesday evening over the demolition of the three freedom fighters' statues, who hailed from Shahjahanpur.
District-level Congress leader Pawan Kumar Singh on Sunday told