Controversy over Shastri’s statue

The proposed installation of Lal Bahadur Shastri’s 10-feet bronze statue in the traffic island near Regal Cinema in Colaba has run into an unseemly controversy. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s state unit has questioned the move to install Shastri’s statue, even as it was denied permission to install the statue of Jana Sangh founder

Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee in the roundabout. Ironically enough, the traffic island is named after him.

“We are not against Shastri’s statue. But the fact remains that we were denied permission on the ground that no statue could be erected on government property,” said Vinod Tawde, general secretary of state BJP.

The Shastri statue project was initiated by the state government at a cost of nearly Rs26 lakh and would be unveiled on October 2 by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil.

Incidentally, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation also bans all statues in public places. After the desecration of the Babasaheb Ambedkar statue in 1999, it was decided to not to give permission to install any new statues in the city.

Historian Sharada Dwivedi commented, “The existing statues of many luminaries are badly maintained. The civic authorities had also stated of not allowing any more statues in the city after
the recent desecration of Meenatai Thackeray statue. So why make exceptions?.”