Lindsay Pereira: A Rs 3,600-crore political stunt

The historical monuments that exist must continue to struggle against the elements while a new monument that doesnt make sense gets Rs 3600 crore File picWe dont need standup comedians in Bombay becashyuse our state government is always at hand to help us laugh out loud every other week It made me spill my cup of tea a few days ago when I was told about a government representative who had informed the Bombay High Court that the construction of a 192metre high statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Arabian Sea was not a political stuntThe representative was in court on account of a PIL challenging the proposed Shivaji memorial to be built at a cost of Rs 3600 crore The PIL filed by a city resident referred to the decision as illogical and uncalled for which is something a whole lot of people living within and without our citys borders have been saying for a very long time now Unfortunately if we were to prevent the government from acting in an illogical manner it would have very little to do This is why I assumed the official response was made simply because the poor representative had no clue about what a political stunt wasAs a citizen who cares heres a quick lesson for our elected representatives who routinely struggle with inflated egos and words that hold more than four letters A political stunt is something done to attract the attention of the masses and gain public influence for no reason other than to exercise positions of governance When looked at how our government functions and has for as long as you and I can remember you will agree with me when I say that almost nothing done by the people at Mantralaya is not a political stuntThere was more about the report that made it hard for me to continue sipping from that cup of tea According to an affidavit filed by someone from the Public Works Department our government has always endeavoured to dedicate memorials to people who have contributed much to the state of Maharashtra in the past I thought about that statement long and hard As someone who was born and brought up in Bombay I struggled to think about a single person that the government had done anything forWasnt this the same government of Maharashtra that sat back and did nothing while the old Ambedkar Bhavan was demolished Its where Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar founded the Buddhist Society of India and housed a printing press he set up in 1947 along with several handwritten manuscripts What was the government doing when it was torn down considering what Ambedkar did for India let alone this stateWhere has this government been since 1920 the year Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak passed away in a fourstorey building called Sardar Gruha near Crawford Market Apart from a bust of the freedom fighter theres little to suggest that even residents of the building know much about its historyA proposal for a national memorial was supposedly made in April this year and the government says it intends to consider itHeres another thing to consider Ambedkar and Tilak both lived in Bombay for a while There is little proof to suggest that Shivaji ever visited our city apart from historical mentions of a trip to Kalyan He passed away a little over 100 kilometres from Bombay in Raigad but continues to grace all kinds of monuments simply because some people believe this wins them votesUnsurprisingly none of those who claim to respect the warrior king have ever bothered to take care of the many forts associated with his reign None of these monuments offer visitors basic amenities like clean toilets or drinking water The Archaeological Survey of India has gone on record to state that it has never been given enough staff or budget to care for them The 201617 state budget allotted Rs 60 crore for their conservation In other words these fabulous historical monuments that already exist must continue to struggle against the elements while a new monument that doesnt actually make sense gets Rs 3600 crore The most shocking thing about these beautiful forts is the governments inability to even agree upon how many of them still stand todaySo contrary to everything the government says in its numerous affidavits it isnt hard to conclude that this statue like everything else done in Maharashtra is little more than a political stuntThe High Court is supposed to take up the petition for further hearing a couple of weeks from now I hope the judges ask some tough questions before making that judgementWhen he isnt ranting about all things Mumbai Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet He tweets lindsaypereira Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom