Idolising the 'idols'

In 2001, Kannagi’s statue was removed by the reigning Jayalalitha government from its original pedestal on the Marina drive as it was believed that this statue would be the reason for Jayalalitha’s defeat in the then upcoming elections. Kannagi, a symbol of chastity and devotion was standing on the Marina drive since 1968. It was re-instated in the year 2006 by the DMK government. This is, but just one example of the numerous incidents involving statues and the politics that revolves around it.

Statues and idols are integral parts of any Indian city’s architectural heritage. Urban spaces are defined and flanked by statues of different personalities. The city of Chennai is no different. There is a story behind every statue… and each statue has a set of incidents associated to it. It is very interesting to note how the political movements within a city trigger off idols to be ‘idolised’.

What started off as a glorification of the colonial kings, went on to become a tussle between political parties and caste. In the early 19th century, statues of King Edward, King George and Queen Victoria were set up in this city of many firsts. The late 60’s saw the revival of a politicised Dravidian movement by Anna Durai. In 1969, the Tamil conference was held after which 13 statues of various personalities including those of the Tamil saints were inaugurated near the Marina beach.

According to Mr. Satyanaryana, Architect, statues in Chennai are politico-caste statements. The aftermath of the Tamil conference was the beginning of the statue politics in the cityscape. One thing that is to be noticed is the fact that most of the statues figured in Chennai are not of national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru or Indira Gandhi, but are those from the Dravidian movement. The DMK made use of architecture and iconic figures to put across its party ideology of “Tamil Renaissance”. The 13 statues along the Marina were tools for the DMK to express their unique Tamil identity and they did this by exploiting public spaces. According to a research paper written by Dr.A.Srivatsan titled Politics, popular icons and urban space in Tamil Nadu, “Icons had become an important honorific gesture. Their numbers and location in the city space were constructed to be directly proportionate to the importance of the leader or the party.”
Political parties influenced the psyche of the people by cashing in on their sentiments through iconography and dotted the city with numerous statues. Statues of Mahatma Gandhi flourished during the pre-DMK era when Tamil Nadu was under the Congress rule followed by Periyar statues under the DMK rule.

AIADMK too didn’t lose out in this mad race. While DMK’s icons reflected strong Tamil bonds, AIADMK’s icons were a reflection of the caste politics within the city. 1991-’96 saw Jayalalitha inaugurating numerous statues, often making a casteist political statements. She unveiled the statue of Pasuman, who was the leader of the Devai community near the Nandanam Signal. Statues in Chennai are given more importance than sometimes even the common man, who has to wait for four hours in the mindless trafficSimilarly, she saw the unveiling of the statue of Azhagamuthu, who was the king of the Yadava community near the Egmore station. By doing so, she was ensuring that she captured the vote banks of these particular communities.

Chennai has been the centre of many battles over statues rather for statues. So much so, that there has been Public Interest Litigations (PIL) filed against the State government’s exploitation of space near the Marina drive, after which the State government assured the people that no more statues would come up near Marina. However, the assurance was not implemented and the State government went ahead and instated a statue of the late Shivaji Ganeshan on the Marina drive, thereby going against the court orders. Another controversial icon is that of the Dalit leader B.R.Ambedkar. The most recent controversy being, over an Ambedkar statue in Koyambedu this was removed as there was work that was to be completed on a grade separator. The Ambedkar supporters, as expected, were out on the streets protesting the statues removal.

Irrespective of the party in power, statues are here to stay, getting equal importance and sometimes more importance than the person who has been idolised itself. They are given police protection, sometimes barricaded, sometimes even caged!! DMK and AIADMK support their need for statues with many reasons, livelihood for artisans being one of them. But one does wonder, how many artisans are really benefited from this? Also there is the issue of using statues to woo voters by using them as point of contention in the election manifesto, like the DMK who promised the voters to reinstate Kannagi’s statue if they were brought back to power. Icons are no more mere symbols or reminders for the people, but rather act as political statements. Defacing and removal of a particular statue anywhere in the world can be viewed as a symbolic act of defying a certain ideology or that person. The best example for this is the demolition of Saddam Hussein’s numerous statues in Iraq which was viewed as the end of dictatorship.