 On 28 November 2006, the brewing resentment in the Dalit community in Maharashtra took form of violent protests, when a statue of Dalit icon B. R. Ambedkar was desecrated by a vandal in Kanpur.Several people remarked that the protests were fueled by the Khairlanji killings, including the Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, and the Mumbai Police Commissioner A. N. Roy.According to The Hindu, the political parties had not responded appropriately to the outrage over the Kherjlanji killings, resulting in heightened tensions.