With the Maharashtra government planning to empty its coffers of Rs 350 crore to build a Shivaji statue and the Gujarat government giving them stiff competition with a planned Saradar Vallabhbhai Patel statue that is twice the height of the Statue of Liberty, how can Jayalalithaa be left behind?
The Tamil Nadu chief minister has now announced a Rs 100 crore statue of ’Tamil Thai’ (Mother of Tamil) which will come up in Madurai to symbolise the cultural excellence and achievements of the Tamils.
The proposed statue will be taller than the 133-foot-high Thiruvalluvar statue at Kanyakumari which was built when the DMK was in power. But unlike state governments, in this case the Mother of Tamil statue will go head to head with the Statue of Liberty.
The government sources as saying the statue will symbolically and physically resemble the one off New York Harbour.
In the assembly, Jayalalithaa said parks resembling the five terrains – kurinji (mountains), marudham (agriculture land), mullai (forests), neidhal (sea shore) and paalai (desert) – will come up around the statue. When a curious rebel DMDK member wanted to know if the Tamil Thai statute would be similar to the Thiruvalluvar statue in terms of its size, ministers sitting in the front row gestured it would be much bigger.
However, already, voices of opposition are being heard with Hindu leaders cautioning the government that no statue or structure should tower of the famous Meenakshi temple.
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