The Meghalaya Government has decided to restore the vandalised bust of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and statue of Swami Vivekananda in Shillong, with the Art and Culture Department set to bear the entire cost of restoration, Nongthymmai legislator and Meghalaya Trinamool Congress president Charles Pyngrope said. The assurance comes amid widespread condemnation of the vandalism during the recent violence in Shillong and growing demands for accountability against those responsible.
Pyngrope said the State Government had already held a meeting on the issue and that the Art and Culture Department would undertake the restoration of both monuments. He also said he was in constant touch with members of the R&R Colony society and that the situation was now moving smoothly.
“Meghalaya Government already had a meeting and the Art and culture department is going to do the entire restore both the statues at the expense of the Art and Culture Department. I am constantly in touch with the society of RR Colony and everything moving smoothly now,” The TMC Meghalaya Chief said.
Condemning the incident, Pyngrope said the vandalism of the bust of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and the statue of Swami Vivekananda must be unequivocally denounced. He also said the circumstances that led to the violence needed to be examined, particularly the charter of demands submitted by the Khasi Students’ Union to the State Government.
The Nongthymmai legislator said, “Let us condemn this tragic incident where the bust of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and the status of Swami Vivekananda were Vandalised, that we have to condemn, what we have to realise is what made them do that that’s the point, because the KSU had a charter of demands which they have submitted to the state Government and apparently no one took cognizance of that. But that doesnot give u the choice to go and commit act of vandalism and create chaos in the society.”
Pyngrope said the authorities must identify and arrest those actually responsible for the vandalism rather than resort to indiscriminate arrests, stressing that penalties should follow only after the perpetrators had been established.
“First we have to arrest them, we cannot arrest anybody, we have to arrest the actual perpetrators of the crime, then only you can impose penalties or whatever the law suggests,” he said
Further Pyngrope said the State Government, in consultation with stakeholders, had decided to ensure that the damaged monuments were restored rather than allowed to remain in their present condition.
“In the term period, we don’t want it to lying down, the state Government in consultation with the stakeholders decided to assist, after all Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose or the Swami Vivekananda were not just the state icon but they are national and international icon,” he added.
