Samajwadi Party president apparently following the dictum ``if you can beat the enemy join them, is set to unveil a 50-feet tall, 60-tonne bronze statue of lord Krishna in his hometown Saifai. This comes after the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government had proposed a 100-metre tall statue of lord Ram on the bank of Saryu River in Ayodhya. The Krishna statue is almost near completion and will be unveiled early next year.
Akhilesh Yadav also invoked the spirit of lord Ram on Saturday thanking the lord Ram for the construction and later the inauguration of the 302 km long Greenfield lucknow – Agra expressway during his tenure as the chief minister of UP.
``Bhagwan Ram aur Krishna hamare hai dono Vishnu ke avtar hain;;, said Akhilesh Yadav here on Saturday.
“We don’t believe in inaugurating already established projects. We believe in lord Ram and lord Krishna both. Both are the incarnation of lord Vishnu. Blessing of lord Ram are with us and with the lord’s blessing we were able to construct the lucknow-Agra expressway in record time of 22 months and also commission it ” said Akhilesh Yadav in lucknow on Saturday. The Krishna statue has been installed at the Saifai Mela Ground and is being funded by the Saifai Mahotsav Committee.
In an obvious dig at the UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath , SP pre4sident said `` UP government is clueless about the development and are yet to come with any new idea, scheme or project for the development and they are only recycling the schemes and the projects completed during my government’’..
Reverting to his ceaseless criticism of the prime minister Narendra Modi over demonetization and the Goods and services Act, SP president said `` both the moves of the BJP government have dealt a severe blow to the economy particularly to the unorganized sector of the economy’’. He added `` they will keep on amending the concept, design, structure and tax slabs ahead of elections to different state assemblies’’.
SP MlC Sunil Singh Yadav said, “This project started around six months ago. Back then, there was no proposed lord Ram statue in Ayodhya. Therefore, this should not be viewed as the Samajwadi Party indulging in any kind of competition with the BJP on Hindutuva plank. The statue has not been made with the taxpayers’ money, the Saifai Mahotsav Committee has arranged the funds for it.”
The statue captures an image from the Mahabharata, where lord Krishna is seen holding a chariot wheel in his hands. If party insiders are to be believed, this particular act of lord Krishna was chosen by the party top brass to send a message to the opposition before the 2019 lok Sabha elections.
The statue is said to be designed by experts using the latest 3D technology. The angles and pipes used in the statue are from Japan while the paint is from a US-based firm. Gas tungsten arc technology, majorly used for aerospace projects, has been used to weld the statue.