Uttar Pradesh: 25-feet bronze statue of Atal Bihari Vajpayee to be unveiled on December 25

A 25-feet bronze statue of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was installed at the Lok Bhawan building in Lucknow on Monday. The statue is expected to be formally unveiled on December 25, his birth anniversary.

It is reported that Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to unveil the statue. However, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is yet to confirm the Prime Minister's availability on December 25. Atal Bihari Vajpayee represented Lucknow in the Lok Sabha for 5 times in a row, the period also included his three stints as Prime Minister.

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Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath had announced on August 16 that a statue of the stalwart leader would be unveiled in Lucknow on December 25. He also added that Prime Minister Vajpayee pursued politics for more than 60 years and continues to be an inspiration for millions of people.

The life-size statue of Vajpayee is sculpted by Rajkumar Pandit of Jaipur and would be the tallest statue in the Uttar Pradesh. The bronze statue has been mounted on an 8-ft foot high base and prepared by the Uttar Pradesh Rajikiya Nirman Nigam Limited.

Official sources said that Uttar Pradesh Government has spent approximately Rs 89.6 lakhs on commissioning and installation of the statue.

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Ashutosh Tandon, a cabinet minister in the Uttar Pradesh government said, "Unlike in previous governments when statues were mostly sanctioned on political lines, the Adityanath government is sanctioning statues of leaders which inspire our young generation."

Last year, a 12.5-ft bronze statue of Swami Vivekananda was unveiled at the Raj Bhavan by then Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

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Under the former Chief Minister Mayawati, statues of many Dalit Leaders and Bahujan Samaj Party's symbol -- Elephant were installed in the state.

In 2009 a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against Mayawati was filed in the wake of spending taxpayers money on construction of the statues and parks in the state. In February 2018, the then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that he was of the tentative view that BSP chief reimburses the taxpayer for all the money used in statues.