Maya's Gaja is not a Maya

In the land of the Great Dravidians, nurtured by over a half a dozen rationalist Dravidian 'development' parties for the past 50 years, there are Statues for almost any one. This is the only state which can boast of having a temple for a living actress, who hosts a jig jig dance show in the CM's channel and news is there is one more in construction for the other judge of the show. Almost all towns and cities will have at least a dozen of Gandhi's, Annadurai's and MGR statues and/or roads. The main street will be anna and the next one Gandhi followed by Nehru and Indira. And of course the next in the list is Rajiv. And how can one forget periyaar, the man who was against idol worship, but is now seen sitting as a stone in most towns , garlanded and worshipped. And blue dressed Ambedkar also gives company. Then you have the huge Thevar statues used mainly on his birthday and election day. Kannagi, Thirruvalluvar are the others. Then there are memorials, mani mandapams for countless leaders. The area occupied by memorials in Guindy Chennai is worth millions of dollars. Every year crores of rupees is allocated for these in the budget itself.

This is the state where one party removed a lady statue from the beach, and the rival party made it the most important issue of the next election and once they won, reinstalled the lady. And whenever there is caste war in the south, the the statues of thevar and ambedkar come alive and some of them are desecrated.

The Thiruvalluvar Statue in Kanyakumari is 133 ft tall and cost more than one million dollars. [ 38 feet is pedestal, Built in 2000]

Many airports, universities and auditoriums are named after these political leaders of yester and today. There is a place called KK nager in chennai which is short form of kalignar Karuananidhi nager. Ther is MGR nager, anna nager, Periyar nager, gandhi nager, Jayalalitha nager , rajiv nager etc. And countless streets have their names too.

Mankind has been erecting memorials and monuments since ancient times. They were used to celebrate either victories or the Leaders of those days. It is a great propaganda medium which can convey a thousand messages some direct and many discreet. It is a fact that the MGR samadhi and Anna samadhi, even today bring votes.

While Anna and periyar statues are used by DMK, MGR and Thevar statues are used by AIADMK. Gandhi, Indira and Rajiv come together for Congress. Ambedkar is used by everyone.

Maharastra will soon have a huge Shivaji in the sea. The 300 crore project will erect a 309 Feet statue one km in to the sea. The statue will be built on an artificially-created six-acre island, which will also house an amphitheatre, an exhibition gallery, museums, garden, food court and a library mostly centered around the life of the warrior king. 50 crores has been allocated in this year's budget for this. Just like Anna in Chennai, Maharastra freaks out on Shivaji. This 300 crores is to wean away the maratha vote from the sena's.[ last year estimate was 200]

The hottest Statue news from Karnataka is it's 62 foot tall chaplin statue waiting for approval to be installed in front of a temple.

In Andhra NTR statues replace MGR and Indira is also popular. MS Subbalakshmi, the popular Tamil Carnatic singer has a statue in Tirupathi and none in Tamilnadu.


In Kerala, EMS Statues are there for Controversy. many Leaders of the Communist party become immortal in stones after death.


SO WHAT IS WRONG IF MAYAWATHI CELEBRATES HER REIGN BY INSTALLING COUNTABLE STATUES?

The logic told by the Dalits makes some sense. There are countless statues of Ambedkar cleverly planted by the congress making it seem Ambedkar belongs to them. To change the perception that ambedkar is the Only Dalit, Mayawathi needs to have other leaders of Dalit also splashed all over. Especially at a time when Congress is trying to put up new dalit icons and promoting their heirs like Jagajivan ram and Meira kumar. For the Congress there are so many Gandhi's and Nehru to celebrate and idolize, while it is made seem that the Only icon for Dalits is Ambedkar. mayawathi is out to remove this myth. Kudos to her courage and vision.

Ambedkar while alive had very limited influence , only in parts of Maharastra. Kansi ram was no doubt a more practical politician than Ambedkar, for him power was ultimate and the means did not matter. Under Kanshi Ram’s stewardship, the BSP practically demonstrated what Ambedkar had theoretically formulated. In this sense, Kanshi Ram redefined and expanded the scope of parliamentary democracy in India. Mayawathi carries it forward and has proved even more politically agile than her mentor. Kanshi ram spotted her and literally took her from her home. While she was studying for her IAS, Kanshi told her, she was making a mistake for ‘Your courage, dedication to the Dalit cause and many other sterling qualities has come to my notice. I can make you such a big leader one day that not one but a whole row of collectors will line up with files in front of you waiting for orders. You can then truly serve the community and get things done,’. Kanshi was thus a visionary, and true to her mentor, she had broadened the vision. Even though BSP did not do well in the last parliamentary election, she was one of the contenders for the PM post and her social engineering concept even outwits that of her mentor. Behenji is known all over the country, unlike Kansi ram or ambedkar when they were alive. So all three deserve statues especially when so many other minnows have countless of them.

"In his will, Kanshiramji stated that as 'Mayawati is my true follower, her statues shall also be installed',"- Mayawathi said this and hence surely she is justified in installing her own...


While all other parties have their propoganda machines through these stones too, why not for the downtrodden. For ages these memorials will help consolidate her vote banks akin the samadhi's of Marina or Raj Ghat.

One question asked is why Elephants. How can you install your election symbol. If that is relevant then all hands of Indira, Rajiv and Gandhi should be cut off for that is the symbol of their party for which they are canvassing by standing or sitting tall as stones. There are many hammer and sickle statues and labor orientated statues. So why pinpoint only the elephants. In Fengshui, Elephant Statue is the symbol of strength, discretion, vigor and harmony. It is said it can bring good luck and health. It is an auspicious animal. so she is actually investing rather than incurring a cost. The elephant was very much associated with Buddhism for Buddha was believed to be a white elephant and an ordinary elephant in his previous birth. Literally and figuratively elephant is a supporter of Buddhism. AND FOR HINDUS, THE ELEPHANTINE GOD GANESHA IS THE LORD OF SUCCESS. GAJA A SANSKRIT WORD FOR ELEPHANT personifies a number of positive attributes including abundance, fertility and richness; boldness and strength; and wisdom and royalty. [ the photo side by is a statue from mahabalipuram Tamilnadu. 7th century AD.]

The Buddhist tradition states that Buddha came into the womb of his mother in the form of an elephant having six tusks. According to Jaina tradition, each of the mother of the twenty-four thirthankars dreamt of fourteen auspicious objects, which included an elephant. In Hinduism, Ganesh, a god with the elephant’s head has been an object of reverence and worship for more than two millennia. He is therefore called as Gajanan(Gaj=elephant, aanan= faced). Several deities and mythological figures have elephants as their conveyance (vahan) including Balarama, Skanda and aiyanar.

An elephant is also one of several attributes of a Chakravartin, which he is expected to own to be bestowed with the title of Chakravatin, that is, the supreme and universal ruler.

SO BEHENJI , WORRIED ABOUT THE WELFARE OF HER STATE AND IN AN EARNEST ATTEMPT TO BRING PROSPERITY TO HER STATE IS INSTALLING AS MANY ELEPHANTS AS MUCH AS SHE CAN AFFORD. sO WHAT'S WRONG?

AND FOR THE QUESTION, WHY THIS FETISH FOR OWN STATUES?, IS THERE ANY LAW IN THE CONSTITUTION WHICH SAYS YOU CANNOT MAKE YOUR OWN PORTRAIT OR STATUE? WHEN SACHIN, AMITABH SONIA AND AISHWARIYA CAN MAKE THEIR WAX STATUTES AND UNVEIL IT THEMSELVES WHY NOT A DALIT KI BETI?

AND ABOUT THE 1000 CRORE FOR THE STATUES AND MEMORIALS, MIND IT BY THE TIME THE SHIVAJI STATUE IS BUILT IN MAHARASTRA THE EXPENSE WOULD HAVE SHOT UP TO 1500 CRORES DUE TO MULTIPLE REVISIONS AND EXTENSIONS. BEHENJI HAS SWIFTLY FINISHED HER TASK, JUST IN TIME.

AND IF YOU COMPARE THE POPULATION OF THE STATES, WELL IT LOOKS JUSTIFIED. And many people from all over the country will flock in to lucknow to have a darshan of an immortal Behen, her master and hoardes of Symbols of prosperity. This will bring in tonnes of cash for the UP Tourism and the state economy will change. So this is a commendable job by a behen and why should you mock at it? 3,000 craftsmen and 350 sculptors were employed to create the 20ft high statue of herself surrounded by giant elephants and gods in Lucknow. So see how she has helped ease the unemployment problem.

CHIDAMBARAM LAMBLASTED BEHENJI WAS THE NEWS IN ALL ENGLISH CHANNELS AND HIS TAMIL SPEECH WAS AIRED. THIS IS A CLEVER PLOY. CONGRESS DID NOT WANT ANY NORTHIE TO OPENLY TALK AGAINST FOR THAT COULD MEAN LOSS OF SOME DALIT VOTE , SO THEY CHOSE CHIDAMBARAM. IN TAMILNADU NOTHING MATTERS EXCEPT ONE RUPEE RICE. AND WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF REST OF INDIA, PROBABLY CHIDAMBARAM WILL BE UNVEILING A DOZEN STATUES OF RAJIV AND THE LONG GANDHI FAMILY IN NOOK AND CORNER OF HIS PET SIVAGANGA soon. Coming from a state which has spent the maximum in the country for statues, memorials and mandaps, how did he speak so loud and arrange immediate national telecast, unless it was preplanned for obvious reasons as stated above.


it seems Mulayam has said he will bulldoze these statues if he comes back. [ i fail to understand why all yadav's like bull dozers] Shameless Indians , still have many statues of the British imperialists and Mughal occupationist symbols which they strive to protect but want to destroy the property of dalits.