Supreme Court slams Mayavati’s UP government on statues case

The Supreme Court has severely criticised the government of Uttar Pradesh, led by Chief Minister Mayawati, for deciding to go ahead with its plan to build statues of and memorials for Dalit leaders in the state despite the court’s ban and also warned the state government that it “cannot treat the court like a political party.”

Mayavati's statues in the spotlight

A bench consisting of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice B N Agrawal harshly told Harish Salve, senior lawyer who is appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government: “You do not play politics with the court as you do it with other political parties in the Assembly.”

Photo: A statue of Mayawati being erected

The Supreme Court bench also rejected the Uttar Pradesh government’s argument that there was some “confusion” and that it had not violated of the court’s order. “We have read with deep pain,” the bench told the state’s lawyer, “your affidavit and the undertaking made by you was lacking in sincerity. It was just eyewash.”

Photo: Statues of elephants at a memorial erected by Mayawati

If there was any such “confusion,” the court observed, prudence demand that it was the duty of the state to approach the court and seek the necessary clarifications.

The criticism from SC is a major embarassment for the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati, who has been planning and inaugurating new statues and memorials of herself, her mentor Kanshi Ram and other dalit leaders across the state at huge expense.

On her part, Mayawati has always considered herself well within her rights to construct memorials and parks of herself and Kanshi Ram. Mayawati has often pointed to the numerous memorials to members of the Gandhi family as justification for her statues.

While the nation’s intellegentsia has been aghast at Mayawati’s statue-construction spree, it is believed that her core votebank – the Dalits – in Uttar Pradesh have always supported her. They have often found nothing wrong in the ostentatiousness of Mayawati’s birthdays or the statues, as such symbols have made them feel empowered.

The Supreme Court made these observations while dealing with the question of the validity of the memorial structures being built for Kanshi Ram, the founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and other Dalit leaders in the heart of Lucknow city, the capital of Uttar Pradesh.

According to the petitioner in the main case, the government of Uttar Pradesh has decided to spend over Rs 2,000 crore to construct parks and statues for Dalit leaders. The Supreme Court had taken a serious view of the “huge waste of public money.”

The Uttar Pradesh government proceeded with the constructions of the memorials in blatant violation of the undertaking it had given to the Supreme Court on September 8, 2009 – thus committing contempt of court.

The Supreme Court issued a show-cause notice to the Atul Kumar Gupta, Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh, asking him to explain why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against him for having deliberately and willfully disobeyed the apex court’s directions.

The Bench of Justices B N Agrawal and Justice Aftab Alam had, on September 18, 2009, strongly told the Uttar Pradesh government that the apex court would examine the Constitutional validity of the huge project and had also expressed dissatisfaction over the government’s claim that it had put on hold the project till the restraint order passed by the Bench was vacated.

At that time, Justices B N Agrawal and Justice Aftab Alam had indicated that it would examine if the Uttar Pradesh government can be allowed to spend such a large amount of public money to build statues of and memorials for political leaders.

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