Ludhiana: Protesters block highway, commuters face inconvenience
Ludhiana: Expressing anger against the vandalisation of Dr BR Ambedkar’s statue in Amritsar, people from the Dalit community on Tuesday blocked the national highway near Jalandhar bypass for a few hours. A large number of protesters gathered on the highway and protested against the incident and demanded severe punishment for the culprits. The incident is a result of the bandh call given by the Dalit community on Monday. The impact of the bandh call was also seen in many markets of Ludhiana. Though most of the markets in the industrial hub did not remain closed, shopkeepers in many major markets of the old city like Chowra Bazar, Bhadaur House, Railway Road, Mata Rani Chowk, Ghantaghar, Haibowal, Mall Road, Civil Lines and Ghumar Mandi did not open their shops. The ‘Akalgarh’ market, the main textile selling point in the city, was open in the morning and during the march in the city markets, the protesters forced the traders to shut their shops.
A large number of commuters remained stranded on the national highway. Long queues of vehicles were seen on the highway. Police officials tried to persuade the protesters to open the highway for traffic, but they did not agree and the protest ended by noon. Meva Singh, a resident of Rahon Road, said that he was going to immerse his mother’s ashes in the Beas river along with his family members, but his vehicle got stuck on the national highway due to the protest. He said, “Our vehicle got stuck in a long queue of vehicles and we were left with no other way and unfortunately we had to wait till the protest ended.” A groom going to get married got stuck on the road due to the traffic jam. His father Tarsem Singh said that his son’s marriage was to take place in Amritsar, where all the relatives of the bride’s side were waiting for the baraat. He requested the protesters several times, but no one listened to him. The baraatis said that the bride’s side had made all the preparations, but they got stuck due to the traffic jam. Finally they found another option and they left for Amritsar through another route via a village. A woman named Amrit Kaur was going to Khanna to meet her parents with her two young children, but due to the protest she had to wait for hours in the bus, which got stuck in the jam on the highway.
BJP leaders condemn the incident
The incident of damage to the statue of Dr. BR Ambedkar by some miscreants on Republic Day on Heritage Street in Amritsar has been condemned by local BJP leaders. BJP leaders took out a protest march on Tuesday to protest against this incident. The march started from Ambedkar Bhawan here and ended near the statue of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar on Jalandhar bypass. Senior BJP leader Anil Sareen said that the protest was carried out peacefully. He said that the law and order situation in the state is out of control. Such an incident took place in the state on Republic Day and it shows that the ruling government is weak and is not able to control such incidents. Ludhiana BJP president Rajneesh Dhiman said that this is a shameful act and a failure of the state government.
