Samajwadi Party to counter BJP's statues with their own

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party will now match the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party statue for statue. A 100 feet tall statue of Lord Ram in Ayodhya will be countered with a 50 feet tall statue of Lord Krishna in Sefai, the native village of Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.

According to sources, Mr Akhilesh will unveil the statue in Sefai before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Lord Krishna is looked upon as an ancestor of the Yadav community and is worshipped as the reigning deity by the community.

The installation of the statue is designed to consolidate the Yadav community in favour of the Samajwadi party. The Yadav’s, in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and then the 2017 assembly elections, had drifted towards the BJP, which led to major reverses for SP.

The bronze statue of Lord Krishna depicts the Lord in a war mode, throwing a chariot wheel, supposedly at Bhishma. This is the only time during the war that Krishna had picked up a weapon.

The choice of this theme by Mr Akhilesh, ahead of a big political war in 2019, is designed to send a message to his cadres that he is war ready.

The statue weighs over 60 tonnes, including the bronze wheel, which weighs nearly seven tones. “The statue, which is ready, is the brainchild of Mr Akhilesh Yadav and has been funded by the Sefai Mahotsav Committee that also organises the annual Sefai Mahotsav in the village.

The unveiling of the statue is being planned as a mega event and all prominent opposition leaders would be invited for the function, which will be held sometime next year.

It is noteworthy that recently, the Yogi Adityanath government had announced that a 100 feet statue of Lord Ram would be installed on the banks of Saryu river.