Hyderabad:
The 'million march' conducted in Hyderabad has damaged - and in some cases destroyed - 19 statues of Andhra Pradesh's icons.
The protest took place yesterday and was called by groups who want Andhra Pradesh to be bifurcated to create a new state for the Telangana region.
32 statues along Tank Bund honoured poets, freedom fighters, and other heroes. They were installed by popular leader NT Rama Rao 20 years ago. 11 statues were thrown into the Hussain Sagar Lake during yesterday's protest. Some of the attackers were wearing masks of Mahatma Gandhi. In the past, political groups from Telangana have complained that only seven of the 32 statues were of leaders from their region.
"Today they destroyed their own culture. They are children of Telugu mother but they destroyed the Telugu mother," said Lakshmi Parvati, NTR's wife.
Bala Krishna, a civil service aspirant, cannot understand why the politics of the Telangana debate has assaulted the statues that served as an homage to culture.
"I am not associated with any party, I am an Indian and my identity is that I am Telugu and I feel bad about this," he said.
Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has promised the statues will be restored.
The police says that the attack on the statues had been planned by the mob of 12,000 that descended on the city.
"Some hammers, sickles, ropes have been recovered. The equipment reveals that it was all pre-planned," said Akun Sabharwal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad Central Zone. He does not, however, have an explanation for why the police was ill-prepared to counter the offensive.
The "million march" organizers had invited 10 lakh people to pour into Hyderabad.