Statues represent will of the people: Mayawati tells SC

New Delhi, Apr 02: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Tuesday justified installation of her statues across many cities in the state, saying it represented the "will of the people".

Mayawati has filed her statement in the top court, where a petition is being heard against the statues of the 63-year-old and elephants, her BSP's symbol, at parks in UP cities such as Noida and Lucknow, using taxpayers' money.

"The will of the people was expressed by the state legislature with a proposal to install the statues of the answering respondent at the memorials to show respect to the contemporary woman Dalit leader who has decided to sacrifice her life for the cause of the underprivileged communities," Mayawati said in an affidavit to the top court.

The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has said that with those statues, the state legislature showed respect to a Dalit woman leader.

The BSP leader termed the PIL in this regard as a politically motivated petition and said that the petition was a result of disgruntlement against the respect being shown to a Dalit woman leader.

"Why question only Dalit leaders' statues and not the ones erected by the Congress and the BJP using public money," the BSP chief questioned, referring to statues of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Shivaji, NT Rama Rao and Jayalalithaa.

In February, a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said, "Ms Mayawati, pay all the money back. We are of the view that Mayawati should reimburse all the money she spent."

The top court is hearing a 2009 petition against the profusion of statues of Mayawati, her mentor Kanshi Ram and elephants - her party Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)'s symbol - built at parks in Lucknow and Noida with taxpayers' money when she was chief minister between 2007 and 2012.