Tag Archive for 'Shivaji statue'

Schools not statues

Published
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asianwindow
on June 10, 2008
in Society
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Posted by Namita Bhandare: My new column in Mint argues for a moratorium on statue-building. Build schools, hospitals, heck, even public parks instead. What do you think?

How wonderful it is to harbour ambitions to build edifices taller, bigger, better than the Statue of Liberty. But has the irony of the fact that Lady Liberty represents welcoming freedom to struggling immigrants escaped our elected representatives in Maharashtra?

The Maharashtra government’s grand plans to construct a 309ft-high statue of the state’s most iconic figure, Chhatrapati Shivaji, in the Arabian Sea will cost taxpayers Rs100 crore, probably more. For that price we will have a statue in the sea that is taller than even the Statue of Liberty. Imagine that!

It’s a colossal plan in hubris. Statues are symbols that represent a value system. When you construct a mammoth statue of a man who is without doubt the state’s most iconic figure, regardless of cost, regardless of ongoing farmer suicides, regardless of malnutrition deaths and regardless of pathetic infrastructure, you are sending out a message: This is a government that stands for cosmetic change; if it cannot rival the infrastructure and liberalism of New York, it can at least have a statue that is taller than its most enduring symbol.
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India plans its own colossus

Published
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asianwindow
on June 4, 2008
in Design and Leaders
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Mike Nizza in The Lede on the Maharashtra government’s grand plan to build a huge statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji (1674-1680) at an estimated cost of $4.5 million. When complete, it will be taller than the Statue of Liberty.

When a proposal emerged to build an immense statue on an island off the coast of one of India’s largest cities, there was no point in denying a nod to New York: “It is true that the Statue of Liberty was perhaps an inspiration a little bit,” one official told Reuters.

While the technical specifications differ just a little — the new statue is to be clad in bronze, not copper, and to rise about 4 feet higher — there are big differences in theme and posture.

Lady Liberty welcomes the tired, poor and huddled masses, but the new statue off Mumbai will feature Chhatrapati Shivaji, a 17th-century warrior king who has lately been embraced by nativist parties who oppose immigration. And where Liberty stands on her own feet, Shivaji will be depicted riding a horse, the International Business Times reports.

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