Ambedkar’s Red Signal for Bangalore

Losses mount as Dalit activists oppose a temporary shifting of the late leader’s statue

BANGALORE ~ The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation managed to move statues of Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose, but when it came to Babasaheb Ambedkar, it has come up against a roadblock (or rather, trainblock).

The statue is on the lawns of the Vidhana Soudha—the state’s seat of power—and the shifting was only meant to be temporary, till work was completed on this section of the metro. But Dalit political activists have threatened to agitate if the statue is moved, despite assurances that it will be put back after work is completed.

Ambedkar’s statues have been a sensitive issue in Karnataka ever since some inebriated college students defaced one a decade ago. They were led by a minister’s son. Many such protests have been witnessed after a series of copycat desecrations. This particular statue enjoys round-the-clock police protection with a van stationed along with police personnel to guard it.

When officials from the Bangalore Metro recommended that the statue be shifted as it may get damaged during the excavation and underground blasting being done in the vicinity, several Dalit political groups took umbrage.

One of them, Bangalore University’s Dalit Students Forum, claiming allegiance to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, held a protest recently. G Govindaih, a post-graduate student who led them, said an entire political spectrum owing allegiance to Dr Ambedkar is willing to raise funds to enable the metro to shift its alignment and leave the statue alone.

Bangalore Metro Managing Director N Sivasailam has estimated the delay cost at Rs 90-100 crore, saying it is something that needs to be resolved soon. “We have imported costly tunnel boring equipment that is lying idle for almost a month at one end, as [the work] is already nearing the location where the statue is.’’

The government has done the next best thing it can: appointed an expert committee to resolve the impasse.

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Anil Budur Lulla