Mayawati demands Rs 27 crore for new statues

October 9th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Friday hailed her mentor and ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder Kanshi Ram as the greatest messiah of Dalits. Speaking at a brief function here to mark his third death anniversary, Mayawati said, "There was no parallel to Kanshi Ram-ji in championing the cause of Dalits across the country." She first paid floral tributes at a statue of Kanshi Ram at the threshold of the Rs.1,200 crore Ambedkar Memorial in Gomati Nagar, where construction activity stands suspended after a Supreme Court order.

September 10th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav Thursday said the Mayawati government could be termed "unconstitutional" for flouting orders of the Supreme Court to stop all work at memorial projects across Uttar Pradesh. Accusing Mayawati of having turned into an "unbridled dictator", he also threatened to get all the structures pulled down, once his party was voted back to power.

August 3rd, 2009 LUCKNOW - Unfazed by the criticism over its statue-erecting spree, the Mayawati government of Uttar Pradesh has sought the assembly sanction for an additional Rs.556 crore (Rs.5.56 billion) for the projects, and in contrast sought just Rs.250 crore to deal with the prevailing drought in the state. Over the years, Rs.5,000 crore have been allocated towards Chief Minister Mayawati's dream projects since the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) came to power in May 2007.

July 17th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi blamed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for the poor power supply in his parliamentary constituency of Amethi, while remaining silent over remarks against the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief that have landed his party's state chief in jail on charges of denigrating Dalits. Addressing a gathering in Amethi, Gandhi slammed Mayawati for allegedly misusing developmental funds by installing statues in the state.

July 17th, 2009 AMETHI - Accusing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of misusing government funds, Congress Party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Friday said Uttar Pradesh has place for only statues and elephants but not for the issues related to development of the state. Addressing Congress workers here, Gandhi said: "Mayawati only has time to erect statues and nothing else.

July 17th, 2009 AMETHI - Congress party general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Friday told reporters at a impromptu press conference here that remarks made by Uttar Pradesh Congress unit chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi against state Chief Minister Mayawati were unfortunate, but at the same time understandable because of the lack of development in the state. "The words uttered by Mrs.Joshi are unfortunate, but the UP Government's action against her (Joshi) is also unfortunate.

July 3rd, 2009 DEHRADUN - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has expelled Bahujan Samaj Party leader Munna Singh Chauhan from the party's Uttarakhand unit for questioning her move to erect statues of her own in Uttar Pradesh. Munna Singh Chauhan, who unsuccessfully contested the Tehri Lok Sabha seat in the recent general election as a BSP candidate, was shown the door for writing a letter to Mayawati suggesting a focus on the welfare activities for Dalit community rather than erecting statues.

July 1st, 2009 LUCKNOW - Seeking to justify use of nearly Rs.3,200 crore (Rs.3.2 billion) of public funds for building grandiose memorials and statues of Dalit icons, including of herself, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Wednesday said the money earned from tourists visiting the spots will be used for development. "Since the monuments built to commemorate our ideologues would eventually come up as attractive tourist spots and would naturally make a lot of earnings through entry fee, I have decided to use all the gate money towards development of villages named after Babasaheb Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram," Mayawati told reporters.

July 1st, 2009 LUCKNOW - Seeking to justify use of state funds in erecting statues of Dalit icons in the state capital, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Wednesday said the money earned from visitors to the memorials would be put to good use. "Since the monuments built to commemorate our ideologues would eventually come up as attractive tourist spots and would naturally make a lot of earnings through entry fee, I have decided to use all the gate money towards development of villages named after Babasaheb Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram," Mayawati told reporters here.

June 30th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Defending Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati against the Congress' criticism, her confidant and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) national general secretary Satish Chandra Misra Tuesday reiterated that the drive to build memorials and install statues of Dalit icons would not affect the state's welfare schemes. "While undertaking the construction of memorials and statues, we are not in any way compromising with the programmes meant for the development of the state or for the upliftment of the poor," Misra said in a release issued by the state information department.

June 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress party on Monday said the money used for installing statues of Dalit icons by Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister Mayawati could have been used for upliftment of the poor and backwards in the state. Stating that the party was not against installing statues of national heroes, Congress said, but it was against "overdoing" it.

June 29th, 2009 SIVAGANGA - Union Home Minister P. Chidamabaram has severely criticized Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for constructing and inaugurating statues of her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) symbol - the elephant-of herself and of Dalit leaders of yore.

June 25th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Prompted allegedly by a petition in the Supreme Court, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Thursday night surprised many and unveiled as many as 15 projects, including memorials and statues eight days before the schedule. Officials admitted that the unveiling ceremony was to take place July 3 but Mayawati changed the schedule as Delhi-based lawyer Ravi Kant filed a public interest litigation in the apex court seeking to prevent her from inaugurating projects.

June 24th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, will unveil 40 statues, including six of her own, in the state on July 3. The statues will be unveiled along with the Kanshi Ram Memorial and the Gautam Buddhasthals.

April 3rd, 2009 SAHARANPUR/MUMBAI - Newly appointed general secretary of Samajwadi Party (SP) Sanjay Dutt slammed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for not utilising the funds available with the State for the welfare of the people. "When I came to Lucknow, I saw statues all around and I was told by one that all these were statues of Mayawati.