Vandalism: The New Terrorism

Vandalism in simple terms is destroying or destructing public or private resources. Normally while speaking about vandalism, a mental image of graffiti on historic monuments or destroyed statues of historic leaders pops in our heads. In India, most of the historic sites are vandalized with heart-arrows and initials of couples who think engraving their initials on walls of historic monuments would make their relationship last longer. But these youth don't understand the importance behind these monuments that represent the struggle of our ancestors who fought for their freedom. The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act of 1984 protects precious historical monuments and public property from being abused by vandalism. The enactment of this act, however, is not enforced strictly and that is the reason monuments are covered in heaps of engravings and graffiti.

Recently in Fort Raigad - which once used to be the capital of Maharashtra - the historic sword which had slain hundreds of enemies of India was destroyed. Just fifteen thousand kilometres away, in Lahore, a statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who had founded the Sikh empire was vandalized.

Earlier many monuments had gold and precious gems embedded on them but after our independence, a lot of such monuments were looted, with the gold and gems being plucked out and taken away. Riots are big-time contributors to vandalism. During the 1993 riot in Mumbai, many buildings, buses, taxis and resources were vandalized and destroyed. Destroying public property owned and built by the government or local authorities is like destroying taxes paid by the taxpayers from their hard-earned money.

Let's pray that vandalism becomes a thing of the past and all monuments are in their original and safe form. To do so, we all should say no to vandalism and encourage others to not vandalize public and private property. It is in the hands of our generation to either protect or destroy our resources. Features of many historic monuments are just history today due to vandalism. Let's hope this changes soon.

Keep Saving, Keep Protecting.