Thane: TMC Lacks Fund To Re-Install Statue Of Rajmata Jijau In Newly Inaugurated 'Oxygen Park'; BJP Stages Protest

Thane: A controversy erupted in Thane, the political stronghold of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, after it came to light that the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) allegedly lacked funds to reinstall the statue of Rajmata Jijau in a newly renovated park.

The dispute unfolded at the inauguration of the Rajmata Jijau Pranvayu Udyan (Oxygen Park) in Hiranandani Meadows, Pokhran No. 2. The park, developed by the TMC’s Parks Department to boost oxygen levels and provide citizens with a space for recreation, features walking tracks, yoga zones, bamboo paths, and over a thousand trees, including preserved 75-year-old banyan and pipal trees.

However, what should have been a celebratory event turned into a political tussle between the BJP and Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction, both partners in the state’s ruling Mahayuti alliance.

Local BJP leader Ramesh Ambre alleged that the civic administration claimed it had no funds to reinstall Rajmata Jijau’s statue, which had been removed during the park’s renovation.

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Undeterred, Ambre and his supporters staged a symbolic protest by placing an oil painting of Rajmata Jijau in the park. In protest, Ambre, along with BJP MLAs Sanjay Kelkar and Niranjan Davkhare, met Thane Municipal Commissioner Saurabh Rao, who later clarified that the park would retain Jijau’s name.

“The commissioner told us there was no money for the statue, so MLA Niranjan Davkhare got the painting installed at his own expense and inaugurated the park before the official event,” Ambre said, according to report by Loksatta.

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