Dalit votes in mind, BJP plans 100 feet statue of Uda Devi in UP

New Delhi, Jan 1: The BJP in a bid to bag the Dalit votes has planned to install a 100 feet statue of freedom fighter, Uda Devi. The party also plans on developing a park and memorial in the name of the Pasi icon, who fought the British East India Company Army at Lucknow in 1857.

The BJP was able to win over the Pasi community in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as well as the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Out of the 71 BJP Lok Sabha MPs, six belong to the Pasi community. Out of the 310 MLAs in the assembly, 23 are from the Pasi community.

Addressing a meeting of the social representatives of the BJP Schedule Caste Morcha, member of Parliament from Mohanlalganj, Kaushal Kishore called upon the members of the Pasi community to donate iron for the construction of Uda Devi's statue.

The statue would be installed in Lucknow. This would be in addition to the already existing small statue of Uda Devi that is present in Lucknow, which was installed in the 1990s during the Kalyan Singh regime.

Uda Devi had become a symbol of Dalit resistance against the colonial rule. Kishore said that Uda Devi had killed around three dozen British soldiers in a battle near Sikandar Bagh in Lucknow, before laying down her life.