Mayawati inaugurates park containing big statues of Ambedkar,kanshiram &Herself—Severely criticized—The Pioneer-15.10.11

When Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati inaugurated `685-crore park -much touted as the `Dalit Pride' -in Noida on Friday, she used the opportunity to lead a frontal attack on the ruling Congress at the Centre.
Throughout her 40-minute speech, Mayawati targeted the Congress saying the party was so scared of her `dalit power' that they could make Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar or Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde the next Prime Minister. She virtually turned her speech from being ceremonious to a political one and hit out at the Congress and the UPA Government at the Centre. “The Congress is so scared of me that it may make Meira Kumar or Sushil Sinde the Prime Minister, ” the Chief Minister said after dedicating the Ambedkar Park on the outskirts of Delhi to public on Friday evening. The 36-acre park houses memorials of Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram besides statues of herself and of those of 24 elephants, the BSP symbol and each costing `70 lakh.

Taking a dig at Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, she said his visit to the dalit villages in the State was an attempt to influence the dalit voters in wake of the forthcoming elections and dared the Congress to defeat her in the UP Assembly elections next year. “I challenge the Congress to influence the dalit voters and BSP leaders, if they can, ” she said.

The Chief Minister also had words of advice for the BJP. She said the party should have started the Jan Chetna Yatra from Karnataka which

is ruled by the BJP and had seen leadership change in recent times as a result of corruption charges in the State. “The Jan Chetna Yatra of LK Advani should have been appropriately started from Karnataka. The State has undergone leadership change following the corruption charges and the action that followed, ” she said.

Under attack over the controversial park, Mayawati lashed out at the Congress saying it had no right to criticise when it has raised so many memorials for the NehruGandhi family across the Yamuna bank in Delhi. She added that this prompted her to construct the park, which she termed as the ‘pride of dalits’ . The message was clear — the west bank of the Yamuna is the Congress’s and the east bank is that of the Bahujan Samaj Party. She also attacked Congress and BJP for ignoring dalit icons BR Ambedkar and BSP founder Kanshi Ram. “In Delhi, Central Government has

constructed various memorials on the western bank of Yamuna to honour people like Nehru and Gandhi, but not a single one has been built for dalit icons like Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram, ” Mayawati said.

The construction of the park had come under attack from political parties and conservationists who had approached the Supreme Court alleging destruction of green belt along the Okhla Bird sanctuary. The court initially stayed construction but later lifted it. Justifying the Rastriya Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden project, Mayawati said, “We always felt the need to have a memorial dedicated to icons of the dalit community and this is one such for the benefit of dalits living around the National Capital Region, including western Uttar Pradesh. ” The sentiments of dalits were badly hurt due to Central Government’ s attitude of ignoring the contributions of Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram, she added.

Related report on Page 2

Ambedkar Park's high construction costs had been making headlines

Noida bore a different look on Friday for the inauguration of UP Chief Minister Mayawati's dream project -the `685 crore Ambedkar Park. The atmosphere was jubilant and the city was all set to witness the pomp on the auspicious day.
Roads and streets were dirt-free and innumerable posters and banners of the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief were seen all over the city. A huge crowd had already gathered at the Ambedkar Park in Noida when Mayawati's helicopter landed on a helipad constructed specially for the occasion in the premises of the Apeejay School. The helicopter had taken off from Lucknow.

Sharp at 5 pm, Mayawati reached the venue. As soon as she appeared, the crowd cheered and raised slogans, hailing the BSP leader. The number of spectators far exceeded the expected turnout.

The entry was closed ahead of the scheduled entry time of 4 pm as the space within the park fell short to accommodate the surging crowd. An equally huge number of people stayed outside the park to get a glimpse of Mayawati.

Mayawati finally inaugurated her much-talkedabout dream project, Ambedkar Park, on Friday evening. The park’s high construction costs and its extravaganza had been making headlines for long. Alongwith the inauguration of the park, Mayawati also inaugurated 20

more projects, including six in Noida, eight in Greater Noida and six in Badalpur, Mayawati’s hometown. Special care was taken by the city authorities to make the city look clean and beautiful. The painting of railings and dividers were especially done for the occasion.

Colourful banners and posters carrying life-size images of Mayawati and other Dalit leaders were hung everywhere to welcome her.

Private offices and schools continued work till afternoon only. Office-goers and students turned up in large numbers at the park. Security arrangements were made for the day, leading to huge traffic snarls extending from Greater Noida Expressway to several arterial roads in Delhi.

The Ambedkar Park boasts of statues of 22 pink sandstone elephants, the electoral symbol of the BSP, 12 life-size statues of Dr BR Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram and Mayawati.

The estimated cost of each statue is more than `6 crore and that of each elephant is around `70 lakh. Mayawati had spent approximately `2,500 crore on five such major parks across UP.

The total budget is `685 crore for development of the Ambedkar Park.