Overturning Maya’s appeal, EC bans Republic Day tableau portraying BSP election symbol and Kanshi Ram’s statues.
The Election Commission has foiled the ruling BSP’s smart ruse to sneak in statues of elephants and those of party founder Kanshi Ram in the Republic Day parade to be taken out here on Thursday.
Despite the state government’s repeated pleas giving justification for its choice of the tableau, the EC has taken a stern view of the matter and turned down the Mayawati regime’s proposal.
The EC had recently ordered draping of all statues of Mayawati and those of the elephant (the BSP’s election symbol) put up at the state government’s expense in UP. The diktat came after opposition parties unanimously complained to the EC that the statues of Mayawati and elephants would provide undue benefit to the BSP during the election.
For the Republic Day parade, the state government had cleverly included a tableau on the “Manyawar Kanshi Ram Eco Green Park” in Lucknow in the proposal submitted to the EC recently. The EC smelt a rat - or rather an elephant - and asked for a detailed description of this tableau. Sources say that in its reply, the state government had stated that the tableau was aimed at creating awareness on ecological conservation. It had also admitted that the tableau would have statues of Kanshi Ram since the park is named after him, and of several animals, including elephants, as they had been put up in the park, too.
The EC immediately sent a stern note to the Mayawati government that they could take out the Republic Day parade but there should be no display of any kind of elephants or of Kanshi Ram. A senior UP EC official here told this paper that the decision was taken as the display was likely to be widely publicized through the media.
“This would have disturbed the level playing field and is against the code of conduct. It would also violate the EC order against display of elephants at government expense,” he explained.
However, the EC is not alone in brow-beating the Mayawati regime. The defence ministry has turned down the state government’s proposal for the R-Day parade in Delhi for the fourth year in a row. The UP Information Department had sent a proposal for a tableau based on the Ambedkar memorial in Lucknow which was rejected.
The UPID sent a second proposal titled “UP, the land of Buddha” which highlighted the Buddhist tourist centres in Lucknow and would have been adorned with Buddha’s statues. This proposal was also axed. Last year, too, the state government had sent a proposal based on Buddha’s life, titled “Buddham sharanam gachchhami”.
Meanwhile, the Allahabad high court on Tuesday dismissed a petition demanding that the EC order on draping statues of elephants and of Mayawati be struck down. With the high court’s seal on the EC order, it is not clear that the statues would remain under covers till the elections are over. The BSP has already said that the PIL had been filed by mischievous elements not related to the party so that the EC’s diktat remains the final word in the dispute.
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