Here we are in 2019 and the general elections are fast approaching. While looking back at the past few years, statues have been in the news a lot. Literally, statue means a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals or non-representational forms are carved in a durable material like wood, metal, or stone.
Constructing statues seems to be the contemporary way of displaying power. For a country whose economy has taken an alarming hit due to rising fuel prices and depreciation of the Rupee, the government needs a ‘win’ and the big unveiling may just be able to provide that. The country is still recovering from the scourge of demonetisation and this coupled with rising unemployment levels has significantly disillusioned the public. But building statues is important and have become a prominent tool of the power play.
Well, some people display statues as a way of remembrance, while other people will display sculptures as a way of worship. Some people find comfort and healing in their appearance. Whatever the reason, but now statues are built in India to divert people’s attention to relatively trivial matters like renaming cities to appease the nationalists whilst keeping certain societal groups happy, serves the dual purpose of channelling attention from the failed policies of the ruling party whilst maintaining the loyalty of their core supporters.
On October 31, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the 182m tall Statue of Unity, a statue of Congress leader and freedom fighter, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, popularly called India’s Iron Man, and the person widely credited with unifying India after independence by persuading princely states to join the union. Patel was also independent India’s first home minister and hailed from Gujarat, which is also Modi’s home-state; the statue, on the banks of the Narmada in Gujarat, was commissioned when Modi was the state’s chief minister.
Under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, farmers have committed suicide, farmer unions are protesting and unemployment is still a burning issue. The Statue of Unity also comes at a time when there are deeply social and political divides that run across the length and breadth of the nation.
The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government, on November 7, 2018, announced the construction of a gigantic Ram statue on the banks of the river Sarayu in Ayodhya, where the Hindu God is believed to have been born. The rumoured plan is to build a statue of Ram 221 metres tall. There are political rumours that the proposed statue of Ram would apparently compete in height with that of Vallabhbhai Patel.
What’s the point in having a Ram Statue when we already have many millions of statues/idols of Ram in various temples of India? Why built another statue? It’s simple, to woo the “Hindu” voters. Yogi Adityanath, after coming to power, made several announcements. The name-changing spree, redevelopment of temples in the state and the approval of 100-metre tall statue of Lord Ram on the banks of Saryu in Ayodhya to bring about ‘social development are among the announcements made by Yogi government. At the time when the UP is facing poor industrial growth, poor infrastructure, and most basic problem like education, health, and unemployment, does it seem right on the part of the government to not prioritise on these issues and pay more attention to the temples and ropeways?
The Maharashtra government had announced that it will build Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue at a whopping cost of Rs 3,800 crore. To be built in the Arabian Sea, the memorial will have the world’s tallest statue, at 212 metres, a museum, a theatre and a hospital in an area of 15 acres near the Mumbai coast. Shivaji is a revered figure in Maharashtra’s politics, but many critics have argued that the money could have been better spent on maintaining the forts built by the 17th-century ruler that is in a dilapidated condition. However, the ruling BJP-led coalition hopes that building the imposing memorial will help it win the support of the Maratha community which has been agitating about jobs and loss of farm income due to the agrarian crisis.
If building a memorial for Shivaji can help the government woo the Maratha community, then a statue of Ambedkar can similarly ensure the support of Dalits. The Ambedkar memorial will be spread over 12 acres of land in Dadar and have a 350-foot statue (about 107 metres), an auditorium, a meditation centre, a restaurant, and a parking facility. It will cost the state around Rs 900 crore.
Well, till now it was about wooing the voters, now comes a statue to for self-promotion.
In October, Mayawati inaugurated the Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden, built at a cost of Rs 685 crore. The memorial includes a mini-museum known as the Rashtriya Dalit Smarak (National Dalit Memorial) and a green expanse built on an area of 82.5 acres along the banks of river Yamuna. The Rashtriya Dalit Smarak is spread over thirty-three acres of land and includes the idols consecrated for the people who devoted their life for humanity, equality and social justice, including Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram and Mayawati herself. And south of the Vindhyas, on October 24, a statue of former Tamil Nadu chief minister, the late J Jayalalithaa arrived at the HQ of her party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
As campaigning for the next general election gathers steam, politics around building memorials may only intensify. But for politicians and political parties who are in power, this is the only route to power and the only means of retaining it.
