Yogi Adityanath promises a 100m idol of Ram: Why UP likes playing statue, statue.
Tuesday, November 14, 2017 IST
Statues of religious figures are ready to take the pedestal in Uttar Pradesh’s politics.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath announced in October his government’s plan to build a 100-metre-tall statue of lord Ram on the Saryu riverbank in Ayodhya.
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The priest-politician also declared his government’s eagerness to revive the Maitreya Buddha project, which has been pending for 15 years. The project involves building a 500 metre Buddha statue, the world’s tallest.
Former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who built a statue of Hanuman in Saifai, his native village in Etawah district, plans to install a statue of Krishna and principal characters in the Mahabharata.
The Samajwadi Party chief has hired experts to prepare the plan for his epic project.
Using statues as a symbol of political power is not new in India’s most politically sensitive state although the colours and themes keep changing.
The Ram statue was among the BJP government’s priorities, said party parliamentarian Vinay Katiyar, an accused in the case involving the 1992 demolition of Ayodhya’s Babri mosque.
Many Hindus believe the mosque was built on top of the birthplace of Ram and a temple dedicated to the god on that site has long been a central plank of the BJP’s politics.
When a majority government is in power it has to support the aspirations of the voters, Katiyar said.
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