India plans warrior-king statue to rival Statue of Liberty
Updated
The government of the Indian state of Maharashtra plans to build a statue off the Mumbai coast rivalling New York's Statue of Liberty.
The statue will depict the 17th century Maratha warrior king, Shivaji, who's a hero in Maharashtra state for defying Mughal and British forces.
The state government plans to install the 309-foot-tall statue in the Arabian Sea, built on a man-made island, which will include a library, a museum and an amphitheatre, in a project that is expected to cost nearly $US4.5 million.
Political analyst Monobina Gupta has told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program with Mahrashtara facing pressing more problems the money should be utilized for other social sectors
"While statues do convey a sense of identity and the reinforcement of symbols, but when you have very little investment going in to public health, education, and peasants reeling under the burden of debt, I think investment should be made more in that sector," she said.
Shivaji is an icon adopted by the militant right-wing Maharashtra group, Shiv Sena, and the city's airport and train station were both renamed after Shivaji more than a decade ago.
Political scientist Prof Imtiaz Ahmad explains that politicians are building such statues to assert their regional identity.
"Today's situation is a reason where regional identities are assuming larger-than-life proportions," he said.
"And therefore, politicians in these regions are bolstering up these various regional heroes, and building statues for them so that they can reinforce the regional nationalism."
