Tale of two Ambedkar statues

Telangana govt all set to unveil the statue, while a similar project under way in Maharashtra by BJP govt severely lags behind

Hyderabad: There is a stark contrast in the manner in which the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government in Telangana approaches a project and the way BJP-ruled governments in other States do it.

A classic example, among many, is the project to install statues of Dr BR Ambedkar initiated by Maharashtra in 2015, and by Telangana in 2016. Though Telangana laid the foundation for the project in 2016, work on the statue began on April 14, 2021, and in just two years, the 125-ft statue is ready to be unveiled.

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On the other hand, the then BJP government in Maharashtra, with Devendra Fadnavis as the Chief Minister, got Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a gala function, to lay the foundation stone for a 150-ft statue in 2015. But eight years later, several modifications and cost escalations later, with the current promise being of a 350-ft statue, work is still just halfway through.

According to information on the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) website, the statue will be 350 feet tall, placed on a 100-foot-high pedestal at Indu Mills in Mumbai, with work “expected to be completed by March 2024”.

The differentiating factors, it appears, are commitment and determination. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao constituted a special committee to take up the project with experts from varied fields as its members. The committee inspected different statues, including those in China. It was the Chief Minister’s decision to set up a 125-ft statue to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar. Popular sculptor Ram Vanji Sutar was roped in to design the statue.

Ever since the decision was taken to install the towering statue and ensure that it lasts forever, it took over two years to initiate technical measures before beginning work on it. Having gathered information and knowledge from different countries, the statue was made using indigenous technology, the Chief Minister recalled at a review meeting held last week on the arrangements to be made for the unveiling ceremony.

In addition to the 125-ft statue at NTR Gardens, the Telangana government also installed a 29-ft Ambedkar statue at the Centre for Dalit Studies in Borabanda. On the other hand, while matters progressed at jet speed in Telangana, things have been a bit slow in the neighbouring State.

So far, only 52 per cent of the works have been completed, with the pedestal and statue still to come up, according to reports. The project, reports say, was expected to be completed by March 2024. In the meantime, the project cost escalated from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1,070 crore.