By IANS,
Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Monday got another of her statues unveiled – the second in the city – along with those of mentor and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder Kanshi Ram and Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar.
The tall bronze statue of Mayawati was unveiled almost at the gateway to the Rs.5 billion Ambedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal (Ambedkar Memorial for Social Change) here that was earlier dedicated to the people. There is a fourth statue of Ambedkar’s first wife Ramabai Ambedkar.
While the BSP supremo unveiled the other statues, she asked close confidante and multi-portfolio minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui to unveil hers.
The statues flank the main entrance to the memorial park.
Against an imposing and tall red granite wall as a backdrop, the bronze statues stand on elevated platforms covered with carved pink Dholpur stone.
Though this is not the first time that Mayawati has unveiled her own statue, she made it a point to give her reasons for the unusual act.
“Kanshi Ram-ji always said that he would be very happy if I would install my statue along with his; so this is being done to fulfil his wishes,” she told the large audience.
Interestingly, she had given the same plea while inaugurating the Prerna Sthal in 2006 where her statue was erected alongside that of Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram.
“Kanshi Ram-ji used to take keen interest in the Ambedkar memorial that was started during his lifetime. If he were alive today, he would have been the happiest man to see its grand shape after the renovation,” observed Mayawati.
The Ambedkar memorial was initially conceived as Ambedkar Park during Mayawati’s fist stint as chief minister in the mid ’90s. Known as her dream project, it ran into much controversy and faced a lot of criticism for the whopping Rs.1.50 billion allocated for it.
During her second tenure as chief minister, Mayawati renamed it as Ambedkar memorial. When she assumed the coveted office for the fourth time in 2007, she re-christened it as Ambedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal and decided to encompass all adjoining land for it that included a sports stadium in the neighbourhood.
An additional Rs.3.50 billion outlay was made for the expansion plan, which included a fresh layer of Dholpur stone “so as it to ensure a 1,000-year life for the structure”.
The stupa like structure has a gigantic hall with a huge statue of an Ambedkar sitting in a chair.