Hyderabad, March 14: Andhra Pradesh’s culture clan today protested the desecration of statues of the state’s icons on Thursday and requested pro-Telangana agitators to leave alone matters of arts and culture.
The poets and writers demonstrated on Tank Bund Road, which was the first scene of Thursday’s protest.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and BJP activists destroyed over 17 statues in the city on March 10.
At the culture clan’s protest today, many hailed from the coastal and Rayalaseema regions but all said they had nothing against the statehood struggle.
“Why destroy memorials that mirror our glory?” asked social activist A. Mitra, who was associated with the Praja Rajyam Party till recently.
Garikepati Narasimha Rao, a poet, said the attacks on the statues reminded him of Chengiz Khan. “Thursday’s attack symbolised Chengiz Khan’s destructive policy to trample civilisations,” he said.
The poets and artistes wanted the TRS to rebuild or renovate the statues. “Please do not politicise the culture and the fine arts,” columnist and political observer Parakala Prabhakar said.
The attack on the statues, on the day the TRS organised a big march, came days after Congress senior leader Pranab Mukherjee admonished Congress MPs from Telangana, telling them to pipe down till May-end and wait for the Assembly elections in some states to get over.
Student leaders and regional associations in coastal Andhra have threatened to destroy the statues of Telangana leaders in their region in retaliation.
There are signs that the March 10 demolitions were not spur-of-the-moment outbursts. Ever since the Telangana movement intensified, many leaders had complained that only half a dozen of 33 statues of Andhra icons in Hyderabad were those of the region’s figures.
The resentment turned into anger when the government ignored demands, mainly by the TRS and the BJP, for erecting a statue of Telangana tribal leader Komaram Bheem on the Tank Bund Road.
-Agencies