ALLAHABAD, NOV 18: In this city of statues - you have Lord Ram with his bow and arrow, a smiling Mahadevi Verma, garlanded Indira Gandhi - there's one that literally stands out. Wrapped in blue plastic sheet and white canvas, it's a statue of Swami Vivekananda set up by the Allahabad Development Authority (ADA) at a cost of Rs 15 lakh. And for two years, it stands shrouded because there's no one to "unveil" it.Six months ago, the local Vivekananda Memorial Society requested the President of India whose office politely said that he was unavailable. The society insists that it needs a "VVIP of equivalent stature". So everyone's waiting.The story began two years ago when the society wanted a "befitting monument" for Vivekananda. The Bengali Social and Cultural Association butted in saying Vivekananda was one of their own. Their lobbying worked. and the ADA agreed to foot the bill: Rs 4.5 lakhs.Added to this was Rs 25,000 as transportation cost - the statue was made in Calcutta. Plus Rs 1 lakh for a roundabout and for the roundabout, the road connecting the Kanpur highway had to be widened, another Rs 8-9 lakh. After all this money spent, "none other than the President of India should be called to suit Swamiji's stature," pronounced the society.Subir Banerjee, who heads the Bengali association and is the secretary of the society, blames the city's MP and Union HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi. "The initial responsibility of bringing the President was entrusted upon him but his PA indicated that Joshi himself wanted to unveil the statue," he claims. Nothing doing, said the society. "The BJP wants to appropriate the secular Vivekananda, he isn't any party's property."Meanwhile, some Youth Congress activists clambered all over and unveiled the statue. But police chased them, arrested the leaders, and the shroud was dutifully put back on by the administration. "This exercise continued a couple of times, though not by the same group but by young activists of different political parties," said a senior police official.Though waiting for the President still goes on, the hunt for any VVIP is also on as per protocol. The society approached the Vice-President. "First came the Kargil crisis and then the election. Since you cannot have inaugurations as per the EC's code of conduct during the poll process, the event was postponed once again," said Chanchal Tewary, the vice-chairman of the ADA.Finally, the society approached Kalyan Singh, when he was UP Chief Minister, whose office indicated that "something big should be arranged." Then Kalyan fell and Ram Prakash Gupta is still busy introducing himself to everybody. Meanwhile, Swami Vivekananda waits.
