Maya’s statues in legal tangle

The UP chief minister though remained defiant and called it a political conspiracy
Hardnews Bureau

UP Chief Minister Mayawati's spree of erecting statues has landed her in a legal wrangle. Reacting to a PIL by an advocate, the Supreme Court issued a show-cause notice to Mayawati and the state government seeking their response in four weeks.

Ravi Kant had alleged in the PIL that a major chunk of Uttar Pradesh culture department's budget was being used in the self-glorification project initiated by the chief minister. He alleged that Mayawati had used 90 per cent of the department's fund. He charged that a whopping Rs 2,000 crore was used from the budget for the project which includes installation of statues of Mayawati, BSP's symbol, the elephant, and that of party founder Kanshi Ram.

A vacation bench comprising Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice AK Ganguly recorded the allegations and asked the UP government to reply to the notice within four weeks. The bench took note of the argument of the petitioners that installing statues of the chief minister and her party's symbol, carried out as state policy, was arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

Senior counsel and Mayawati's close aide, Satish Chandra Mishra, appearing for the state, termed the PIL as 'political interest litigation'. He denied any diversion of funds. He said it was a conspiracy by the opposition parties. He resisted the issuance of notice and mentioned the Teen Murti Bhawan in Delhi, where the current valuation of the land would be over Rs 500 crore.

Hardnews learnt that prior to the date of hearing of the petition, Mayawati unveiled 15 more statues on June 25 in what looks like a pre-emptive bid to prevent the court from putting on hold all such projects. Mishra, however, denied this charge and said the statues were not installed in a hurry.

Earlier, Union Home Minister P Chidambram, too, slammed Mayawati for spending public money and called it 'shameful.' He said that in a state like UP which is reeling under power shortage and lack of health facilities, this amount could have been used for development.

However, Mayawati remained defiant and termed the case as political conspiracy against her.