Click to play videoMaharashtra is battling drought, farmers are committing suicide but with Assembly elections in the next few months, the state government has decided to erect a statue of Shivaji in the Arabian Sea at a cost of Rs 350 crore. The state seems to be following the example of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati who is also busy erecting statues of Dalit icons across the state.
The 321-foot statue of Shivaji off the sea shore of Mumbai is the brainchild of the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party. The government’s ambitious plan for the massive statue will cost the state exchequer nearly Rs 350 crore even as the state is pleading for a Rs 11,000-crore relief package to tackle drought.
The scramble to invoke Shivaji's name ahead of the polls is a tried and tested strategy. But will voters fall for this bait? CNN-IBN show Face the Nation debated – Rs 350 crore Shivaji statue: Are statues a waste of public money?
The panel included NCP MLC Jitendra Awhad and Action for Good Governance and Networking in India (AGNI) Convenor Gerson Da Cunha.
Culture vs drought
There are 221 talukas in 27 districts of Maharashtra that have been declared drought prone, 45 farmers have committed suicide in the last three weeks, 3,000 child malnutrition deaths in tribal areas. Is the state not taking a note of this or are these just statistics?
Jitendra Awhad argued that drought and the statue issues were not related.
“We will be taking every step to fight suicide by farmers, drought and malnutrition deaths. This is another part of the political system. But there is something which is called as culture. We would like to culturally impose and identify ourselves with Shivaji Maharaj. You called Shivaji as Maratha warrior but I think he was the best example of secular Maharashtra. He identified himself against the cultural hegemony of that era. So all this is uncalled for. All this is not going to pressurise state exchequer at the cost of common man, at the cost of farmers and at the cost of drought. There will be a separate account for the statue but for us the first priority is the common man of Maharashtra,” said Awhad.
“He is not a dead hero. He is alive in the minds of people who love Maharashtra,” added Awhad.
However, Gerson Da Cunha countered Awhad saying that erecting statues was nothing but political ploy to divert attention from real issues.
“In my view this is nothing more than political stuntism. There have been 40 farmers suicide in last week but there have been 40,000 farmers’ suicide in the state. Will any of this Rs 350 crore go to wipe away the tears of a single widow’s eyes? We have to disassociate the need to preserve the heroism of Shivaji Maharaj from this statue following the worst example of Mayawati. At this moment the government is involved in a pre-election splurge. The statue is a symbol of much deeper malaise, of a government that does not care for its people. What makes you think that a statue will help preserve the memory of Shivaji Maharaj better than a hospital?” argued Da Cunha.
But Awhad claimed that for the “last 40 years there was not a single monument built in honour of this hero (Shivaji)”.
Meanwhile, there have been reports of attacks on journalists who have been writing against the monument.
Even BR Ambedkar, whose statues are all over the Uttar Pradesh countryside, had said, “India is par excellence the land of idolatry. There is idolatry in religion, there is idolatry in politics, hero and hero worship is a hard if unfortunate part of public life.”
He implied that if a person's statue is erected, he or she becomes irrelevant.
Awhad did not agree with the view and instead shot back asking why the elite clubs should not be closed down and the money used for projects that would benefit the common man.
“Why don’t we close down elite clubs of South Mumbai which are hundreds of acres of land and give crores to the exchequer? We are talking about only Rs 350 crore on a statue which is identified with the common man of Maharashtra. Why are you against this monument? Why are you not talking about lands of the elite clubs? So let us be very practical,” he said.
However, Da Cunha concluded the debate by saying, “Here is a hero on whose statue we are wasting Rs 350 crore when that same amount can be put to better aam admi use.”
Final results of Web/SMS poll: Rs 350 crore Shivaji statue: Are statues a waste of public money?
Yes: 92 per cent
No: 8 per cent
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