Area: 33.43 hectares
15 statues of Mayawati & other Dalit leaders
Dome in Central Plaza houses statues of Mayawati, Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram
24 pink sandstone elephants at park
25,000 stone carvers & masons employed
2,500 masons worked exclusively on central dome
33 sandstone & bronze pillars, some as high as 300 ft
UP Chief minister Mayawati’s dream project – Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden – was inaugurated with much fanfare amidst Buddhist chants, showering of flower petals and cheering by BSP supporters. Dressed in a cream-coloured salwar kameez, her trademark handbag in place, Mayawati arrived in a chopper exactly at 5 p.m. Landing at the helipad constructed specially for the visit at the Apeejay School grounds in sector 16A, she drove up to the park located in Sector 95, followed by a convoy of sports utility vehicles amidst heavy security. She was waving and smiling at the thousands of supporters who had gathered to witness the grand opening. As several camerapersons captured the moment, a beaming Mayawati went around the premises, accompanied by the who’s who of the UP administration. Buddhist monks chanted prayers. Mayawati was accompanied by her parents Ramrati and Prabhu Dass and her niece. The opening ceremony was short and crisp – a red ribbon was cut and a button pressed to formally open the park and 20 other projects in Gautam Budh Nagar district. The chief minister used the inauguration as an opportunity to sound the bugle for the assembly elections scheduled for early next year. In a 40-minute speech that recalled the efforts of the BSP for bringing about development in the state, she lashed out at all opposition parties, terming them anti-Dalit and anti poor. Spread across 33.43 hectacres, the park that’s commonly referred to as Dr Ambedkar Park, was decked up with flowers and elaborate lighting arrangements and guarded by 25,000 policemen. Forty VIPs, including politicians and bureaucrats, 10,000 party supporters and onlookers witnessed the inaugural ceremony. Unmindful of the criticism from several quarters against the construction of the Rs 685-crore mammoth memorial, Mayawati described the inauguration as one that would “be inscribed in golden letters in the history of the nation.” The park, she said, commemorated and honoured the efforts of the Dalit leaders for the upliftment all backward communities, adding that the BSP was the only party to have honoured Dalit leaders like Kanshi Ram,Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, Narayan Guru and Jyotiba Phule. Apologising for the strict security arrangements that had kept everyone from even taking a peek into the park until today, she said it would now be open for visitors from across the country at a nominal entry fee of Rs 10. As a special treat, the UP chief minister Mayawati invited all spectators to take a look inside ‘Prerna Sthal’, promising that the park would remain open till late in the night for everyone to catch a glimpse of the grandeur. Designed by architects Design Associates Inc, the park has been divided into three parts - Column Plaza, Central Park Plaza and Ambedkar Plaza, separated by two water fountains. Column Plaza is dotted with several 300ft high pillars crowned by four-headed elephants and another iron pillar like structure at the centre, complete with a chakra and four elephants. Ambedkar Plaza houses 12 Dholpur and Mirzapur stone statues, brought from Lucknow. One is of the CM herself and the others of Gautam Buddha, B R Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram. The grander Central Plaza houses the dome that has three more life-size statues of the CM, Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram.
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