Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisway and his deputy O Panner Selvam jointly unveiled a statue of their departed leader and former Chief Minister Jayalalitha last week. The seven feet tall bronze statue unveiled at AIADMK party headquarters in Chennai became the object of controversy soon. Many have expressed their ire that the shimmering metal statue doesn’t look like the former chief minister. The statue installed commemorating the 70th birthday of the leader, stands next to the statue of AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran.
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Jayalalitha’s unique facial features aren’t present in the statue. Her confidence effusing smile, and the cheeks and jaw which manifested her determination are missing. The eyes also lacked their trademark sparkling. The AIADMK cadres who exploded into cheers as the statue was unveiled felt their ecstasy dampened with the first glimpses of the new statue. They felt that the sculpture bore little resemblance to their beloved Amma. The AIADMK top brass were at the receiving end as criticism from all and sundry poured in. Party supporters kept complaining about the irrelevant features of the statue. Rebel AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran said, “I don’t know whose amma’s statue it is. Is it the mother of EPS or OPS?” referring to AIADMK leaders Edappadi Palanisamy and O Panneerselvam. He added that the statue is in no way close to Amma. In an attempt to pacify critics the party has decided to amend features of the statue.
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When asked about these controversies, the sculptor of the statue Siva Varaprasad said that he was pained by the criticism. Siva Varaprasad has been into sculpture for more than 20 years and has sculpted many famous leaders’ statues all over India, his recent works being that of Babu Jagjivan Ram and leftist thinker Singaravelar installed at the Chennai harbour. The sculptor said that it normally took him about a month to sculpt a statue like that of Jayalalitha. But, the AIADMK leaders approached him only in the last week of January while the unveiling was slated to February 24th, so he had to hasten a bit in the available 20 days. “If AIADMK leaders ask me I will happily sculpt a new statue, or am willing to amend the features so that it looked exactly like Jayalalitha”, Siva Varaprasad said.
This is the first ever statue for Jayalalitha by her party men after her death in December 2016. Party cadres and public opine that the leaders wouldn’t have done this in a slipshod manner. The statue meant for glorifying the leader has become an object of ridicule now. In Tamil Nadu image-building via installing statues, naming public buildings and government schemes after individuals is not new to Dravidian parties. Grand memorials and statues to past leaders is part of political culture here. The Jayalalitha statue controversy is sort of warning to leaders. Next time when they order a statue, first they need to make sure that the statue will resemble only the intended leader.
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