Gujarat: BJP overpaints artworks with lotus, whitewashes walls after complaint

“Artists passing by the area noticed lotus symbols painted over their work and informed me. I complained to the Rajkot mayor, Rajkot municipal commissioner and party’s city unit chief Kamlesh Mirani with photos… I told them that if this continues, the BJP’s 10-day long drive can undo the hard work of 1,000 artists who made 15,000 wall paintings in the city over the past seven years,” Jitendra Gotecha, managing trustee of MSCT, told The Indian Express.

The works that were overpainted include those warning against climate change and global warming.

After protests from the NGO, the BJP whitewashed lotus paintings, with Mirani saying it was a mistake. “Our painters committed a mistake in overpainting lotus on existing wall paintings in Kisanpara Chowk. After it was brought to our notice, we got them whitewashed and we assured Jitubhai, who is from our own family, that this will not happen again,” Mirani said.

This is second time that the BJP’s drive of painting party’s election symbol on city walls has run into a controversy. The party, which is ruling the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC), got lotus symbols painted on the entry gate of Race Course garden as well as in front of the Narmada dam replica in Bahumali Bhavan Chowk early this week.

Both the assets are owned by the RMC and as per the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949, painting on property of a municipal corporation without prior permission of concerned municipal commissioner is illegal. After the controversy, Rajkot Mayor Pradip Dav had said that he would draw the attention of RMC officers into it.

The MSCT has been making wall paintings in the city with the help of art teachers, students and independent painters.

“After we lodged our protest, Mirani informed me that painters had committed a mistake… he even offered to bear the financial cost to restore the original paintings or draw new ones. But I told him that was not needed. What is important is to respect our artists who spend average eight hours do a wall painting without charging a single penny,” said Gotecha.