Statues Everywhere But Spirit Nowhere

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi aka Mahatma Gandhi is known as the Father of the Nation. His birthday falling on 2^nd October is celebrated as a national holiday and also as an International Day of non-violence. Go to any village, town or city, there will not be one which does not have his statue or a road named after him. Likewise we come across small streets, big roads, public gardens, libraries, function halls, etc., named after one ‘great’ leader or the other whether it is the Nehru or Gandhi or several other regional leaders of each state.

The latest issue rocking the country is the ambitious plan of NDA government to erect a 182 metre high Statue of Unity to be built in honour of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat’s Narmada district. As per the reports, this statue is likely to be the tallest statue in the world beating the current record of 128 metre high Spring Temple Buddha statue in Henan, China. It is also supposed to be twice the height of Statue of Liberty in New York.

There is a big hue and cry by political parties, some media and public as to why the government should spend so much money on a ‘lifeless’ statue. ‘What purpose does it serve?’ seems to be the single moot question of all those opposing the same. Yes, they have a point but the biggest question is ‘what were they doing all these years?’. Most of them were erecting statues of their own ‘favourite’ leaders at every nook and corner of the country which were of little purpose all these years except for facilitating locating an address like near Gandhi chowk, Nehru circle, Ambedkar Garden etc. Also, there are serious disturbances leading to curfews on certain occasions when some drunkard broke an arm of a statue or an anti-social element garlanded a leader’s statue with chappal.

There is an image of Mahatma Gandhi on every currency note of India but did that stop people from making and hoarding black money? Did that prevent some political parties contesting elections claiming to be Gandhi’s successors from bribing the voters? There are pictures of every great Indian leader in all government offices and police stations. Did that help the government servants to discharge their duties in accordance with the guidelines and path set up by those great leaders? There are statues of great leaders in Parliament and state assemblies, but did that prevent the criminals from entering the confines of the famed walls of those temples of democracy.

BSP leader Mayawati was so enamored of herself that she went several steps ahead and put up big statues of her own (abnormal as normally statues of only the dead are put up) and her mentor Kanshiram in UP wasting millions of public money in the process with no one questioning her seriously because every leader lives to die in anticipation that his will be the next statue which his party/followers would work on. Every Regional political party puts up statues of their ‘great’ leaders across the states they rule to establish their domination rather than on the real greatness of their leaders. That Mayawati lost miserably in elections 2014 is a different subject.  

One of the serious problems plaguing our country is the unabashed and shameless encashment of images and statues. There is more outward focus than inward elevation. Why are there no more Gandhis, Nehrus, Patels, Boses, Tagores et al from the current crop of leadership long after the originals are gone even after having innumerable statues across the country?   

Unless there is internal transformation in the ruling class and the voting masses, even the tallest statues and the vast amounts of money spent on them would not yield any results. If statues could change a nation, India would have long ago been a super power because I am sure that no other country will have as many statues of their 'leaders' as India would have.  

Progress and unity don’t come from mere adoration and worship of statues. It is time for focusing on spirit behind the statues and not on the statues per se.

Let good sense and spirit prevail in all concerned so that public money is spent on bettering lives than building statues.