Yogi saffronises Ambedkar statue, BSP paints it blue

​Badaun: Yogi Adityanath's government replaced a vandalised statue of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar with a saffron one, but a local BSP leader responded on Tuesday by painting it blue. 

The statue in Badaun's Dugraiyya village was painted blue by BSP leader Himendra Gautam after Dalits in the state protested against the government's bid to "saffronise" the community's icon. 

The earlier statue was found vandalised on April 8 - the latest in a series of attacks on statues of the chief architect of the Indian Constitution - but was immediately replaced with a new one brought in from Agra.     

What infuriated Ambedkar followers was that the new statue showed him wearing a saffron sherwani and not the usual dark coloured western clothing he is seen wearing in pictures. 

Saffron is Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's favourite, and he has often gone on an overdrive in the past, getting not just his own office, but even other spots painted in that colour. This time, however, it was not known who ordered the saffron colour on the statue. 

This controversy comes just weeks after the Yogi government irked Dalit groups in the state by adding the middle name 'Ramji' to Bhimrao Ambedkar. Political rivals had accused him of trying to appropriate the Dalit icon in a bid to shore up dwindling support for his party among the community.