Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party and Union government for trying to sully the image of a tall leader like Sardar Patel and naming ‘Statue of Unity’, which was inaugurated in Gujarat on Wednesday, a ‘foreign name’. “Like Dr Ambedkar, Sardar Patel was one who worked for the unity and integrity of India. But in the mad race to reap political mileage, the BJP inaugurated his statue and draped the great leader in a cloak of regionalism,” she said.
“The people of the country are also wondering if all this is not politics. If the BJP really loved Patel, why they had not put up a statue earlier in Gujarat where they were in power for a long time,” the BSP chief asked.
Paying tributes to the Iron Man, Mayawati said that Sardar Patel was a total Indian and always promoted the country’s culture.
“Naming his statue in English as ‘Statue of Unity’ is very unfortunate. Besides, the statue was carved out in a foreign country which violates the ideology of Sardar too,” she said.
The BSP chief demanded that the BJP and RSS should seek unconditional apology from the country for targeting statues of Dalit icons set up in Lucknow and across UP. “These BJP-RSS leaders alleged that public funds were misused in statue construction and parks named after Dalit icons. Can they explain now what they have done in Gujarat?” she asked.
