The political opposition to the plan to unveil Jayalalithaa’s portrait in the Assembly is not unique.
In the past too, unveiling of statues of prominent personalities hailing from Tamil Nadu was mired in controversies.
In 2006, when it was decided to unveil a life-size bronze statue of former Union Minister and DMK leader Murasoli Maran on the Parliament premises, AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa strongly objected to it.
She charged that Maran had not contributed anything significant to the nation and his statue should not be installed. Jayalalithaa pointed out that a decision to install a life-size statue of AIADMK founder and former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran in the Parliament complex was kept in cold storage by the Central government.
DMK president M. Karunanidhi reacted sharply to her accusation and issued Jayalalithaa a legal notice warning that he would sue her for defamation if she did not withdraw her statement that he was instrumental in delaying the installation of MGR’s statue.
The then Congress-led UPA government chose to cool the frayed tempers by deciding to unveil the statues of MGR as well as Maran on different days.
While former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attended the inauguration of Maran’s statue, he stayed away from the function to unveil M.G. Ramachandran’s statue.
Kannagi statue row
In the early part of the millennium, the statue of Kannagi, a celebrated epic heroine considered a symbol of Tamil womanhood, was removed from Kamarajar Salai during the AIADMK regime claiming a speeding lorry had rammed its pedestal.
The statue was moved to the Government Museum. The Opposition parties, including the DMK, attributed motives to the incident.
Legal battle
After a prolonged legal battle, the Kannagi statue was restored to its original position by the subsequent DMK regime.
Likewise, a bust of Kannada poet Sarvajna remained covered in Chennai as Kannada activists had stalled the inauguration of a statue of poet Thiruvalluvar in Bengaluru.
During 2009, the then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi worked with his Karnataka counterpart B.S. Yeddyurappa to get the busts inaugurated on different dates.
