A fitting tribute to a local legend or a grotesque misuse of money? The decision to build the world’s tallest statue just off Mumbai’s coast has divided the city.
However, the traditional Koli community, who depend on fishing for their livelihoods, fear they will be worst hit by the construction, warning that it threatens their centuries-old existence.
India is to spend 36 billion rupees (US$538.6 million) on the controversial memorial to 17th century Hindu warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji.
Photo: AFP
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone in December last year.
At 190m, it is to be twice the height of the US’ Statue of Liberty and almost 40m taller than the world’s current tallest memorial — a statue of Buddha in China.
The Koli fishing community, Mumbai’s original inhabitants and whose goddess Mumbadevi lends her name to the city, have said the decision to build the memorial on a rocky outcrop a couple of kilometers off the coast would sound the death knell for their traditional way of life.
Photo: AFP
“The breeding ground for fish will be completely destroyed,” Krishna Tandel told reporters, unfurling a net in Machhimar Nagar Bay, which is tucked behind the high-rises of Mumbai’s southern financial district.
The project has divided India’s commercial capital and highlights a political obsession with statues in the country as parties seek to appeal to regional identities with ever greater effigies of historical figures.
Supporters have said the memorial is a fitting tribute to someone many locals consider a hero of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital.
Shivaji fought the Muslim Mughal Empire, is revered by the Maratha caste and trumpeted by Hindu nationalist politicians.
Opponents insist it is a gross waste of money, which would be better spent on improving health, education and infrastructure in the teeming metropolis of more than 20 million people.
A petition on the change.org Web site opposing the bronze statue, which is to depict Shivaji brandishing a sword while charging on a horse, has received almost 43,000 signatures.
About 2,000 fishermen, many of whom live in shanties surrounding Machhimar Nagar, operate 350 boats out of the picturesque cove, catching a melange of fish to sell at markets and feed their families.
Residents have said disruption caused by construction will decimate their fishing stocks — including pomfret, Bombay mackerel, seer fish, prawns and crabs — while heavy traffic ferrying tourists from three terminals will block access to the sea and disrupt wave patterns.
“We have been fishing for generations. It is our business and now our livelihoods are at stake,” 32-year-old Tandel said, demanding that the statue be built on land.
Environmentalists agree that the project, which is due to be completed by 2021, will cause immense harm to a vibrant marine ecosystem.
“There’s a huge diversity of fish, fauna and invertebrates there. Fish catches, sewage and tidal currents will change,” wildlife biologist Anand Pendharkar told reporters. “It’s going to affect the food base of the city, it’s going to affect the economy. There is going to be a huge amount of damage.”
Critics question why Mumbai needs such a lavish statute when the city already has several smaller Shivaji memorials. The city’s airport, main train station and museum are named after the Hindu hero, while there is also a Shivaji Park.
IndiaSpend, a nonprofit data journalism Web site, estimated that a micro-irrigation project could provide water to thousands of farmers in the drought-prone state for the cost of building the statue.
For the same sum, dozens of decaying Shivaji-era forts could be restored instead, it said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Maharashtra government, in coalition with the Shiv Sena party — which means “Shivaji’s Army” — have dismissed environmental concerns and said the project will draw 10,000 visitors every day.
Shaina N.C., a spokeswoman for the ruling BJP, said it would be an “iconic” memorial akin to the Statue of Liberty that will make its money back through tourism.
Shiv Sena spokesman Sanjay Raut said the sea is the best site, as Shivaji created India’s first navy.
The development comes as the BJP government in neighboring Gujarat builds a 182m statue to Vallabhbhai Patel, a former Indian statesman who was one of the senior figures in the country’s independence movement and an icon of the Indian National Congress party.
Analysts have said political parties are wanting to build ever-more impressive statues to claim popular historical figures as their own.
The symbolism this creates translates into votes in India’s identity-based politics, they said.
“Everyone wants to take credit. This identity politics has become so vulgar now that everybody wants to have these statues,” political commentator Kumar Ketkar told reporters.
The Shaina said 400 Koli families would be “rehabilitated at the earliest,” but that is little consolation to the residents of Machhimar Nagar who just want their culture to continue.
“Even if the government provides us with other jobs, it won’t give us the recognition we deserve,” Tandel said. “It’s our way of life and it should go on.”
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