Silchar, Feb. 26 -- A 10-foot-tall statue of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was pulled down, using an excavator, by unknown people in Assam's Cachar district, prompting the police to register a first information report (FIR) and drawing condemnation from the Opposition Congress, which questioned the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s silence over the vandalism. According to police, the incident took place at Pailapool in Lakhipur sub-division in the early hours of Tuesday. "We have some digital evidence and our teams are trying to identify the individuals involved in this [incident]. Once we identify them, the accused will be arrested," Lakhipur police station in-charge Shankar Dayal said on Wednesday. The officer added that a case under relevant sections of BNS has been registered. Congress leader Pradeep Kumar Dey said morning walkers noticed the vandalism on Tuesday. "We immediately informed the police about it. Though the officials initially claimed that the statue fell naturally, CCTV footage later showed that a group was vandalising it with the help of an excavator," he alleged. Dey said the statue was installed in 2000 at an event attended by former Union minister, late Santosh Mohan Dev. "The statue was installed nearly 25 years back in front of Nehru College, which was established in 1965. In 1953, a high school was established in the same area in Nehru's name. We have a great culture of honouring the first PM here, which has been hit by this incident," he said. Former Congress district chief Abhijit Paul likened the vandalism to the demolition of statues of Bangladesh's founding president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, following the ouster of his daughter, Sheikh Hasina, from power in August 2024. He underlined that Nehru was a freedom fighter who shaped India's future. He questioned the ruling BJP's silence and called for more outrage. "The area comes under BJP lawmaker Kaushik Rai's constituency. Rai is a minister but has not spoken a word against it," Paul said. Rai did not respond to HT's calls for a comment on the incident, while some local BJP leaders refused to speak on the matter. Assam will go to assembly polls in April-May this year....