New Delhi, August 22: The Uttar Pradesh government, which had made budgetary allocation of crores of rupees for installation of statues of Chief Minister Mayawati and her mentor Kanshi Ram in the state, has said it is a wrong notion that only statues of dead persons can be installed.
The state government expressed dismay over the manner in which the hype is being created over installation of statues of Mayawati and quoted examples of superstar Amitabh Bachchan and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee whose statues have been erected.
“It is a wrong notion that only statues of dead persons can be installed. There is no dearth of examples whether in the country or abroad about statues of living persons. In the Indian context, one can easily refer to A.B. Vajpayee Institute of Technology and Management, Gwalior and Amitabh Bachchan Institute at Saifai, Etawah,” the state government said in an affidavit.
“Abroad we have wax statues of film stars, cricketers and other living personalities finding place in Madame Tussauds museum,” the state said.
The Uttar Pradesh Government was responding to the petition accusing it of misusing public funds for the installation of statues of Mayawati, Kanshi Ram, other Dalit leaders and that of elephants– BSP’s election symbol–at parks in Lucknow and Noida, adjoining Delhi.
–PTI