Statue'tory' gesture

Statues of politicians, patriots, poets, saints, film stars, and now even party symbols have been a source of public expenditure and discord in India. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has reportedly spent Rs 2,000 crores for erecting statues of her mentor Kanshi Ram, herself and even the party symbol, elephant, as her state is reeling under a drought-like situation.
The Kannagi statue, among those innumerable ones dotting the Marina in Chennai, was removed when the AIADMK’s Jayalalitha came to power. She stated vastu as a reason for removing it. The removal of this “symbol of Tamil womanhood” ruffled the DMK feathers. So when it resumed power four years ago, the first decision it took was to restore the statue at its place. Major decision-making this was for a government, plagued by an agrarian crisis, caste battles and water shortage!
Now, the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments are into “statue diplomacy”. In what appears to be a puerile attempt at assuaging the sentiments of Tamils in Karnataka and Kannadigas in Tamil Nadu, both the governments have readied statues of Thiruvalluvar, the Tamil poet who penned Thirukkural, in Bangalore, and that of Sarvagna, Kannada poet-philosopher, in Chennai. While Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi unveiled the statue of Thiruvalluvar in Bangalore “amid tight security and threats of violence”, his Karnataka counterpart, B.S. Yeddyurappa, is slated to come to Chennai on August 13 to fulfill his side of the deal. The riot police are on call in both the states to confront any possible unrest between Tamil and Kannada chauvinists following this effort. But will this political gesture embalm the heartburn generated by linguistic jingoism?
Obviously, the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments have not been sincere enough to calm parochial tempers. In fact, it is to their advantage to play the provincial card. Both the state governments seem to have sunk their will to resolve the Cauvery water dispute. So during the harvest each year, the river whips up the parochial wave, engulfing people’s regional sentiments. The dispute over the Hogenakkal power plant has been another cause for concern.
Yeddyurappa has said during the unveiling of Thiruvalluvar’s statue, "We are Indians first, and Kannadigas and Tamils next.” Let us sincerely hope this is not reduced to just a fancy soundbite.
Instead of this statue diplomacy, there could be a sincere attempt at invoking the words and wisdom of these and other great poets of these states to stem parochial sentiments.
However, if the statue diplomacy really helps, political leaders in Maharashtra could probably borrow a leaf of this political tokenism. Shiv Sena’s Manohar Joshi, has redefined locals as those who have Marathi-speaking parents! The original Shiv Sena version of locals was those who had lived in Maharashtra for 15 years. This blatant plagiarism of Raj Thackeray’s Marathi manoos campaign is a good enough reason for us to track the Assembly elections in Maharashtra scheduled for later this year. But those not really championing the cause of original Marathis can begin googling for poets and saints from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other north Indian states!