IN A display of political omnipotence extravagant even by India’s normally outlandish standards, a bizarre image-boosting extravaganza was kicked off in Uttar Pradesh province this week.
On Thursday, Mayawati (53), a woman known just by a single-word name and who is the “untouchable” or Dalit chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous and backward province, inaugurated 15 substantial parks resembling modern-day Parthenons in the state capital, Lucknow.
The parks are crammed with massive bronze, stone and marble statues and friezes of Mayawati herself, fellow Dalit community leaders and the elephant – the symbol of her BSP party.
In one larger-than-life statue, Mayawati is seen clutching a handbag and pointing like a conquering heroine at a wall fresco in which she is depicted as a devotee of Dalit leader Bhim Rao Ambedkar, showering his equally massive carving with rose petals.
The works are estimated to have cost the state exchequer $250 million (€177 million), money that her critics maintain could have been gainfully spent on basics such as water, power, employment, education and medical care for the state’s 170 million people, the majority of them poor.
If independent, Uttar Pradesh would be the world’s seventh-largest country.
“I want to make clear that no funds earmarked for education or for health have been used in the construction ,” said Mayawati, who has positioned herself as the champion of tens of millions of Dalits across India and has frequently voiced her ambition to become prime minister.
The parks’ construction has provided temporary jobs for a large number of people, the Dalit leader added as a palliative, at the hastily organised inauguration ceremony, which was advanced by a week.
This was triggered by the recent filing of a public interest petition in the Supreme Court demanding that Mayawati be restrained from building statue-riddled parks paid for by public funds.
“The activity is being carried out as a state policy which is arbitrary and violates the constitution. Sixty statues of elephants, the BSP’s symbol, were installed at a cost of $10.9 million, utilising state funds,” declared the petition, filed by lawyer Ravi Kant, which is scheduled to come up for hearing on Monday.
Mayawati recently acquired a US-made Hawker Beechcraft 900 XP private jet for $15.8 million, to save her 10 minutes’ flying time on frequent visits to New Delhi.