Everyone will rush to tell you why the Government of Maharashtra (GOM) mustn’t build a Rupees 350 Crore monument of Maharaj Chhatrapati Shivaji larger than the Statue of Liberty near Bombay’s coastline. I am here to tell you why it’s a good thing.
First off, don’t call this just any monument! It’s going to be larger than the Statue of Liberty in New York City! Doesn’t that count for our greatness? The Statue of liberty will look so small in from of the monument of our Maharaj! What better way to show the world that we can do what America does, but better! This will have a lift to go up to the top, a revolving restaurant and a museum with artifacts of the emperor what more can you ask for! Does the Statue of Liberty have any of this?
Then of course the fact that we need as a city to grow to its destined greatness a gigantic and great monument of a great person! Let’s be honest, all the monuments or landmarks we have today are so badly maintained and/or damaged! Who wants to see those eyesores? We need something new!
These are stand-alone reasons to build it. What the many people will say is that we have so many social and civic problems that plague our city and state. The drought-hit areas are severely crippled. But they don’t understand the issue! First of all, the BMC is already spending several lacs of the taxpayer’s money for cloud seeding. So rain is imminent, and more over how can you say there is a rain shortage, when city wide basic services are being shut down because of water logging? Please get your facts right.
The social problems are primarily because citizen lack a guide in their life… This monument will be that guiding light. Just like “Lady Liberty” guides Americans our monument will guide us in following his ideals. Just renaming a vital train station, or our International Airport or having tiny insignificant statues all over the city is not sufficient to commemorate the ideals of a great human being. This one will be an equestrian statue, the way we have come to look up at him.
I have also heard many otherwise rational people saying- in times of recession should we really splurge on a monument?. The Indian Government has said that public servants shouldn't travel in business class, or live in 5 star hotels. So its not like they don’t want to save money. Moreover, its not like we will not be able to make anything from spending 350 crores, it will boost tourism significantly. At a time when tourists are low in number thanks to 26/11, this will help them comeback. The much written about and filmed slums that our tourists see as they land in the Bombay, and this magnificent statue will serve as a honey-pot.
So are they ignoring the apparent poor state of our public offices, the measly salaries of our hardworking (and in certain need of raises) public servants? Are they ignoring the so-called dilapidated education system, or schools, or hospitals? Are they turning a blind eye to poor maintenance of the roads, or poor quality of material being used? Or is it not bothered about the jam-packed trains? The answer is a big firm NO. Those are beside the point!
