Statue, statue

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/statue-statue/557540/

Statue, statue
The Indian Express Posted online: Tuesday , Dec 22, 2009 at 0253 hrs
The politics of portraits and statues in Parliament is prone to
contentiousness, but is an incident apart. At a recent meeting of the
curious named Committee on Installation of Portraits/ Statues of
National Leaders and Parliamentarians, a decision was taken on B.R.
Ambedkar's reading matter of public display. Ambedkar's death
anniversary was approaching, and the MPs wondered whether to give
identity to the book he's shown holding in the statue in the
Parliament House Complex. The Constitution of India it would be, they
decided, before slipping into another discussion on what language
edition the Father of the Constitution should be holding. Predictably,
fresh chalk paint shows it to be a bilingual copy.
That's settled for now, but another decision of the committee is
equally intriguing. Now on, it was decided, no more statues would be
installed in the complex, only portraits. The politics of portraiture
is deeply contested in Parliament — and you only have to go back a few
years for examples of fresh inductees like Savarkar and M.G.
Ramachandran. In fact, the debate has swung between putting a freeze
on new representations and just letting them all in. There is a good
case for keeping space for new portraits, to deepen representation and
reflect how the pluralities of this country continue to inform
politics.
However, as the discussion on the Ambedkar book — on which word is out
that the decision is not final — shows, portraits and statues become
focus points for political contests. The DMK MP in this case wanted
English, his SP colleague Hindi. Ambedkar, of course, finds acceptance
across the spectrum. But as a greater number of more recent public
figures find representation through portraits, contentiousness is
bound to increase. That is not a case for limiting new faces, instead
it may be a call against mandatory reverence.