PM Modi likely to unveil Atal Bihari Vajpayee's statue on his 95th birth anniversary
Lucknow/UNI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to unveil a 25-ft bronze statue of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his 95th birth anniversary at the Lok Bhawan building here on December 25, sources said here on Friday.
During the visit, the PM is also expected to inaugurate several government schemes.
The statue of Vajpayee, a five-time MP from Lucknow, has been made by famous sculptor Raj Kumar Pandit of Jaipur and was put on the platform early this month.
It has been mounted on an eight feet high base, prepared by the Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited.
The statue replaces the former PM's cut-out which overlooked the imposing entrance to the Lok Bhawan symbolically.
Early this year, a 12.5 ft bronze statue of Swami Vivekananda, made by Maharashtra's Uttam Pacharne, was unveiled at the Raj Bhawan by the then governor Ram Naik and the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Four more statues, all 12.5 ft high that are nearly ready and are being given finishing touches include those of Adityanath's revered gurus Mahant Avaidyanath and Mahant Digvijayanath, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna and also Bhartendu Harish Chandra -- widely regarded as the father of modern Hindi literature and Hindi theatre.
While Harish Chandra's statue would be installed at the Bhartendu Natya Akademi in Gomti Nagar, the place and positioning of Bahuguna's statue as well as those of spiritual gurus from Gorakhnath Math, of which Yogi Adityanath is the head priest, are yet to be decided.
In the Bahujan Samaj Party regime, statues of almost all Dalit icons were installed in various places in the state capital while Akhilesh Yadav, in his regime installed statues of Janeshwar Misra and Ram Manohar Lohia.
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