Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden

Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden
Type Public, memorial park
Location Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Operated by Greater Noida Authority
Status Open year round
Website dalitprernasthal.com

The Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden (National Dalit Inspiration Place and Green Garden) is a memorial in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned by Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Mayawati and inaugurated on 14 October 2011.[1]

The park was built at a cost of ₹ 685 crores[2] and the Mayawati government expected to recover the cost from ticket sales.[3]

The memorial includes a mini-museum known as the Rashtriya Dalit Smarak (National Dalit Memorial) and a green expanse built on an area of 82.5 acres along the banks of river Yamuna.[1] The Rashtriya Dalit Smarak is spread over thirty-three acres of land, and includes the idols consecrated for the people who devoted their life for humanity, equality and social justice, including Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram and Mayawati herself. It also has twenty-four eighteen-foot high sandstone statues of elephants, the symbol of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).[4]

The monument is dedicated to the Dalit people and has been constructed to honor the "unparalleled struggle of these stalwarts towards the struggle for social transformation".[5]

In October of 2009, the Supreme Court of India had ordered the Mayawati government to halt construction work, amid concerns that the project might "not be eco-friendly" as it is located near the Okhla Sanctuary. In December of 2010, the court withdrew its earlier concerns and the project was allowed to proceed.[6]

Since the memorial also featured her own statues, political opponents accused the Chief Minister of being a "megalomaniac", and she was criticized by the Indian National Congress, among whose members would voice accusations of her "wasting the tax-payers' money".[4] Mayawati's BSP dismissed the allegations, stating that her statues were erected because Kanshi Ram's will requests that his statues should be constructed next to the current President of the BSP. Mayawati also accused the Congress of being "anti-Dalit".[4]

Gallery

References

  1. 1 2 Arpit Parashar (2011-10-25). "Maya’s dream park is far from complete". Tehelka. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
  2. ↑ "Mayawati to inaugurate 685-crore Noida memorial park today". NDTV. 2011-10-14. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
  3. ↑ "Head of India's poorest state opens £10 million theme park dedicated to her family". The Telegraph. 2011-10-14. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
  4. 1 2 3 Preetika Rana (2011-10-18). "Dalit Park: Boon or Bane for Mayawati?". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
  5. ↑ Dipankar Ghose (2011-10-13). "Maya park dedicated to ‘victims of iniquitous social order’". Indian Express. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
  6. ↑ "India court okays Dalit leader Mayawati's statues park". BBC. 2010-12-03. Retrieved 2011-10-26.

See also

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