India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) and BJP president Amit ShahBahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati has taken a pledge not to build memorials for the icons of the party if the BSP comes to power in the Assembly elections in 2017. During her five-year term as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2007 to 2012, Mayawati had built more than a dozen memorial parks for B.R. Ambedkar, his wife Ramabai and BSP founder Kanshi Ram.
She also constructed memorials in Lucknow, Kanpur, Noida and several other cities and towns in Uttar Pradesh honouring social reformers including Sree Narayana Guru and Jyotiba Phule.
These magnificent sandstone parks with elaborately carved statues had elephant head carvings adorning the entrances.
Mayawati drew flak for three reasons. The first charge was that she also ordered construction of several statues of herself in these memorial parks to perpetuate her cult. Since the elephant is the electoral symbol of BSP, she was accused of trying to reap electoral gains by spending from state's coffers.
In fact, the Election Commission had even ordered that the statues of Mayawati and the elephant carvings should be covered when the model code of conduct was in force in Uttar Pradesh.
The most important charge was that she had diverted more than Rs 5,000 crore of public funds for these parks at the expense of essential schemes of the government.
The Samajwadi Party used these criticisms effectively in the 2012 elections and she lost power.
Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav even said he would convert the memorials into schools and hospitals. Mayawati had then threatened an agitation if the memorials were converted into schools. Mulayam's son Akhilesh Yadav, who became the chief minister, however, left these sprawling theme parks untouched citing that he did not believe in politics of revenge and destruction.
As the memorials needed funds for maintenance and security, Akhilesh said entrance fee would be charged to recover a part of the annual expenses. Thus Akhilesh took the sting out of the controversy.
In Delhi, Mayawati persuaded the UPA government to allot three bungalows close to Rashtrapati Bhavan for erecting a large sandstone memorial for Kanshiram. The memorial, which has not been opened for visitors, is controlled by a trust and Mayawati herself is its chairperson. She also had a sprawling sandstone building constructed in New Delhi's Chanakyapuri as the national headquarters of BSP, but due to Vastu considerations, she has not shifted the party offices to this buildings.
Mayavati has spent three years in opposition. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, her party failed to get a single seat, despite getting a good percentage of votes. Now, she has declared that she would desist from building memorials if she returns to power in the 2017 Assembly elections and instead concentrate on law and order in the country's biggest state.
Tailpiece: Many writers are returning their awards protesting against intolerance in the country, but this has prompted BJP ministers to pick up the pen to defend the government. While Arun Jaitley is a regular word warrior, both written and spoken, Venkaiah Naidu has joined his colleague by writing articles in various newspapers defending the government. Another Union Minister, Kalraj Mishra, joined the chorus by writing an article flaying the Supreme Court judgement quashing the National Judicial Appointments Commission.
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