Stung by reports that the Mayawati government had, in violation of its assurance to Supreme Court, not halted construction at places where statues of Dalit leaders are coming up, the court gave the state six hours to vacate the sites. By evening, work had come to a halt and labourers could be seen leaving the sites. The Supreme Court said it was not going to accept any more declarations and submissions as UP had a terrible record of not adhering to its promises, even citing the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992. It ordered a complete stop on all activity. Taking suo motu cognisance of reports in the print and television media, a Bench comprising Justices B N Agrawal and Aftab Alam said if these were proved correct, then the UP government “is playing with fire”. Repeated pleas on behalf of UP by senior advocate Harish Salve and additional advocate-general Shail K Dwivedi to defer the hearing till Monday and fresh assurances that the “stop work” undertaking would be scrupulously adhered to did not cut any ice with the Bench. It gave just six hours to the state machinery to move the entire work force out of the memorial projects. The SC move is a blow to BSP leader Mayawati as it further embroils her in conflict with the apex court. Though BSP’s political argument that a plethora of projects named after the Gandhi family did not raise the same uproar is intended to appeal to its own base, the party will not endear itself to the upper castes it successfully wooed in the April 2007 assembly elections. The grandiose plans to build memorials to Dalit icons like her mentor Kanshi Ram and herself have seen the opposition level the charge of public money being spent on personal glorification. It has given the Opposition an opportunity to argue that the UP government was spending on statues instead of catering to urgent issues like drought.
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