There appears to be a jinx on proposals for new statues in the capital. The latest, a statue of Swami Vivekananda, is not planned on any road junction, the reason of quite a few controversies linked to statues in the city. Still, it created a minor ruckus in the Corporation council the other day.
BJP parliamentary party leader P Ashok Kumar had moved a resolution for installing the seer’s statue at Kowdiar, but UDF’s Opposition Leader Johnson Joseph had apparently pointed to the lateness of the hour at which the resolution was moved. This led to an altercation.
The BJP has proposed installing the statue at the Children’s Park at Kowdiar, as an inspiration to the young visitors to the park. When contacted, Johnson Joseph said that the UDF is not at all opposed to the commemoration of Vivekananda through a statue, and the altercation was caused by a misunderstanding.
‘’The resolution was passed at 6.10 pm and I only pointed out that it being an important issue, should be discussed leisurely at a more appropriate hour,’’ Johnson Joseph said. The UDF, in fact, was fully in support of the proposal, he said.
According to Ashok Kumar, the Bharateeya Vichara Kendram is installing the statue, a replica of the one at the Vivekananda Rock in Kanyakumari, with Central funds allotted to the Ramakrishna Math. The statue was planned to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
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