As India’s Tensions Boil, Even a Statue of Gandhi Isn’t Safe

The vandals attacked a statue of Gandhi in the southern state of Kerala, breaking its wire-rimmed eyeglasses.

They targeted a monument to Lenin, using a hydraulic jackhammer to destroy the sculpture in the northeastern state of Tripura.

They shattered a statue of a revered figure among Dalits, lower-caste Indians, leaving it in pieces in Meerut, about 50 miles north of New Delhi.

The attacks were part of a wave of vandalism that has unleashed accusations and recriminations and sent political tensions boiling over as, one by one, at least six monuments have been vandalized since Monday.