Eyeing the Brahmin vote bank, Samajwadi Party is preparing to erect a 108-foot tall statue of Parashuram, believed to be the sixth avatar (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu, in Lucknow.
Former SP minister Abhishek Mishra said that a statue of Parashuram would be set up in Lucknow and a grand temple would also be built along with a research centre.
Mishra said that the project was still being finalised and ‘Parashuram Chetna Peeth’ would supervise the project which would be crowd-funded.
“We are yet to finalise the sculptor and the site where the statue will be installed. The educational research centre will be patterned on gurukul concept,” he said.
Asked whether the SP was closely involved in the project, Mishra said, “I am a part of the SP and it is obvious that the party is a part of the project. Contrary to claims, the SP is not averse to Brahmin community. It was the Akhilesh Yadav regime that declared a holiday on Parashuram Jayanti which was later cancelled by the Yogi Adityanath government.”
The former SP minister said that it was the Akhilesh government that had built Janeshwar Mishra Park in Lucknow and installed a larger than life statue of the Brahmin leader there.
The move to erect a statue of Parashuram, a Brahmin icon, is widely being seen as an attempt by Samajwadi Party to wean over Brahmins, who constitute about 11 per cent of population in Uttar Pradesh.