Supreme court seeks Akhilesh Yadav's stand on Mayawati statue case
SP chief Mulayam Singh had, before the 2012 Assembly elections in the state, attacked Mayawati for "splurging public money on grand memorials and statues, including her own" and repeatedly said that his party would demolish the statues if voted to power.
The Supreme Court which is hearing a PIL seeking removal of statues of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati, Kanshi Ram and party symbol elephant dotting Uttar Pradesh and a CBI probe into "misuse of public money" has sought the Akhilesh Yadavled Samajwadi Party (SP) government's stand on the issue within four weeks.
SP chief Mulayam Singh had, before the 2012 Assembly elections in the state, attacked Mayawati for "splurging public money on grand memorials and statues, including her own" and repeatedly said that his party would demolish the statues if voted to power. But his son has maintained that they won't be razed, instead hospitals and schools will be built on the vacant land near the statues.
"We do not want the statues to be demolished but will get educational and hospitals built on vacant land which was otherwise meant for the memorials," he had said recently.
Mayawati has already warned that there will be law and order problem if these statues are touched. The BSP, meanwhile, has been directed by the court to furnish proof that the expenditure on such monuments was from the appropriation bill passed by the legislature and has also sought details of party funds spent for the purpose.
"This is a serious issue. How do you justify it?" CJI H.L. Dattu asked the party's lawyer who said "the entire expenditure is based on the budget passed by the legislature". The bench was initially in the mood to dispose of the petition after hearing the BSP lawyer who said, "The legislature passes an appropriation bill. Then how can we intervene? It could be the common will of the legislators. What role the court has in it? How is it an arbitrary action?" But the court fixed the case for further detailed hearing.
Estimates suggest that each statue of Kanshi Ram and Mayawati cost Rs 6.65 crore. Each elephant statue costs more than Rs 70 lakh. The BSP had earlier told the court that their party leader felt that the statues were "symbols of Dalit assertion".
In addition, crores have been spent on constructing boundary walls around parks across the state where these statues will be installed and another Rs 80 crore per annum will be spent in the maintenance of these parks.