Indian politicians and statue building need regulation

There is no simple answer as 'Yes' or 'No' to this issue, particularly when it is made an issue. In recent times, Mayawati has taken this cause of statue building very seriously. In india, or in any part of the world, statue building of their icons has been a tradition. So why are we so much concerned and worried about the public funds when Mayawati does this?

One of the arguments against anti-Mayawati statue fever is that she is using public funds for her personal statues and glorification. When so and so many people are dying of hunger, there is no electricity in villages, no roads and no education then how come she spends hundreds of crore on these memorials? In fact when the arguments is taken further then some of the intellectuals question even the purpose of building Shivaji Maharaj's memorial in sea-bed in Mumbai. Or by same logic statues of Nehru, Gandhi, YSR, Karunanidhi or any other politician.

This argument does not stand any logic. When farmers are dying or committing suicide then we have space program and building nuclear weapons. These are expensive programs. We spend hundreds of crore on military budget. If one things is not working properly then we can not cut budget for the other. If the farmers are committing suicide, it is because of the inefficiency in the public distribution system and other corruptions in the bureaucracy and not because of space program or statue of Shivaji Maharaj in Mumbai. We needs statues, we need memorials to conserve and show our heritage, culture and whatever political agenda.

But the biggest question is which way to go? In my opinion, there is a need to setup and independent and autonomous commission or authority to develop and enforce guidelines on such projects. There should be non-ambiguous criteria when and how much public fund can be spent on statue building or any other so-called cultural projects. The total budget for such projects should not ever exceed a prescribed percentage of the total budget of state or the center. And in any case it should not be more than the budget of ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) budget. ASI has bigger role and responsibility to play in India than these new projects.

Unless such regulations are in place politicians of every party will continue to exploit the loophole in the system and get cabinet's approval for any project. Even the court is helpless when there is no law to stop these projects. Building statues does not violet any current law. We first need law to make this statue building exercise auditable under some strict guidelines.