Mayawati: Cover-up ordered for all statues

Indian officials have been ordered to drape sheets over statues of elephants and of Chief Minister Mayawati Kumari in India's Uttar Pradesh state in the run up to assembly polls due to take place in March.

Mayawati is a member of India’s low-caste Dalit community. She is famed for building statues of herself with public money as well as statues of elephants, which are the symbol for her Bahujan Samaj Party, reported the BBC.

Politicians from rival parties said the statues give her an unfair advantage and constitute free advertising for her party. Mayawati has spent millions of dollars during her time in office creating parks in her own honor and filling them with statues of herself, reported the Sydney Morning Herald. Statues of political leaders are generally put up posthumously in India, but Mayawati has called that idea outdated.

Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party objected to the cover-up, calling it "one-sided and against natural justice." Critics accuse Mayawati of using public money for self-aggrandizement. Under election rules, portraits and calendars bearing photographs of the chief minister must be removed from government offices ahead of elections.

The electoral commission of India also ordered the removal of all material highlighting the achievements of Mayawati from the websites of the state government and its departments, The Times of India reported. The order came after complaints from opposition parties that said government websites were being used to highlight the achievements of Mayawati’s rule.

A counter suit has been filed by Mayawati’s supporters in the high court against the Election Commission’s order to cover up the statutes.

With a population of 200 million people, almost equal to Brazil’s, Uttar Pradesh is India’s most important electoral prize, reported Bloomberg. The state elects about one seventh of the 545 lawmakers in India’s lower house of parliament.

Many people in Uttar Pradesh are illiterate, which is why statues and other icons are thought to have a disproportionate sway over its voters.
Mayawati is a member of India’s Dalit caste, or "untouchables," as they used to be known. Her support comes mostly from the low-castes, for whom she became a symbol of dignity and aspiration after centuries of oppression by the upper castes.

In 1995 she became the first low-caste chief minister to head a state government in India, but she has subsequently drawn criticism for her extravagant use of public money. Cables released by the Wikileaks website last year claimed she had sent an empty private jet to pick up a pair of sandals when she forgot them during a state visit. She denied the claim.

The Congress Party, which leads the national ruling coalition, has been campaigning hard in Uttar Pradesh, reported the London Telegraph. But many predict Mayawati will retain power.

The move to cover her statues was welcomes by most political opponents, but not all. D. Raja, from the Communist Party of India, told the Telegraph: ''It appears irrational, [if] you have live elephants, how will you cover them?''