Ambedkar statues to stand tall in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said on Friday that his government will start construction of a 125-feet tall statue of Dr BR Ambedkar in the new capital Amaravati from December.

Making this announcement in the Assembly, Naidu said that work will be completed within 18 months. The statue will cost of Rs 210 crore.

Naidu whose desire is to develop Amaravati as a Buddhist tourist attraction laid the foundation for Ambedkar memorial garden in March 2016. The statute will come up in a 15-acre site. In addition to the statue, there will be a convention centre, meditation hall, a museum and a library depicting the life and teachings of Ambedkar.

Meanwhile, Telangana government is also planning  to build the world's tallest statue of Ambedkar near NTR gardens and Dr BR Ambedkar towers in lower tank bund area and a Centre for Dalit studies. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao who laid the foundation for the statue amidst chants of Buddhist monks also announced a slew of sops for Dalits.

The Telangana government also invited global tenders for the second time to prepare a detailed project report for installation of the statue. The government earlier sent a team led by Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari to scout for statue-makers in China. The team discussed the possibility of an Ambedkar statue that will be similar to the giant statue of Mao Zedong in Tongxu county of central China's Henan Province and the God of War statue in Guan Yu Park in Jingzhou province.

"Our government zeroed on China as they are famous in making gigantic bronze statues. China has around 1000 different sizes of bronze statues including a 600 feet bronze statue. So we are planning to invite them to help build Dr Ambedkar statue and the square," Srihari said.

The city-based Ramanujacharya Trust has already employed a Chinese firm to build a 216-feet statue of Ramanujacharya on the outskirts near Shamshabad. This statue  is  expected to be installed this year during Ramanujacharya's millennial birth anniversary celebrations.