The Kolkata Police on Wednesday arrested seven people who allegedly damaged and defaced a bust of Jana Sangh leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee in South Kolkata’s Kalighat locality, The Telegraph reported.

The six claimed to be students of Jadavpur University and members of a far-Left group called Radical, The Indian Express reported. They used a hammer and a chisel to damage parts of the statue and shouted slogans protesting against the razing of communist icon Vladimir Lenin’s statue in Tripura on Monday.

“Six men and one woman in their early twenties have been arrested and strong legal action initiated,” The Telegraph quoted Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajiv Kumar’s as saying.

“Our chief minister has already said we will not tolerate vandalism of statues,” Trinamool Congress MLA Shovondeb Chatterjee said. “It is a shameful act. We are happy that the miscreants have been arrested. Locals alerted the police. We will not allow such things to happen in Bengal. This is not in our culture.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party condemned the incident, and said it would organise protests across the city through the day, NDTV reported. “It is barbaric act of vandalising statue...We demand very strong action against culprits,” said Sayantan Basu, general secretary of the party’s state unit.