Giant BR Ambedkar statue to heighten social justice

Maharashtra’s social justice minister Rajkumar Badole held a meeting at Mantralaya on Wednesday to discuss plans for a statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar at Indu Mills, Dadar, where a memorial to the Dalit icon is expected to come up. “We want it to be the tallest statue in the world and have told the planners to design it 350 feet high, taller than the Statue of Liberty,” the minister said.

However, the Statue of Liberty is not even nearly the tallest statue in the world, and a statue 350 feet high, while impressive, would be only the fifth-tallest in the world. The three tallest statues in the world, all well over 350 feet high, are of the Buddha.

A statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji, over 600 feet tall —which would in fact be the tallest in the world — is planned on an island in the Arabian Sea, but has been stuck pending environmental approvals. Similar problems are likely to crop up for the Ambedkar statue as well, since the land lies within the coastal regulatory zone.

A giant statute of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, close to 600 feet high, is already coming up in Gujarat.

The Ambedkar statue would have a library, vipassana centre, amphitheatre and psychodrama performance, Mr Badole said. He is planning a trip to the US next month to see a psychodrama performance. The government will also send a team to China to study techniques for building tall statues, the minister said.

While all these trips are on the cards, and taxpayer money is going into lofty plans, the state government has not yet received possession of the Indu Mills land on which the statue would stand.

The Centre hasrefused to part with the land for the price of Rs 1,413 crore being offered by the state. It has also sought use of the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) in the island city, which is against existing development rules. However, Mr Badole said none of this matters.

“The technical process is almost done. We are planning to build the memorial in three years’ time,” he said.

The minister has also asked for another 50 memorials to Dr Ambedkar to be built to further the cause of social justice.