India Insight

Every powerful politician deliberates their legacy. For Mayawati, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state and one of the country’s most recognizable politicians, hers will be set in stone.

Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stone statues, to be precise.

Ridiculed by some quarters of the media for her seemingly exorbitant narcissism, she was granted the right to continue construction of a 34-acre memorial park by the Supreme Court on Friday, after staring down mounting criticism over the size of the so-called ‘memorial’ budget from the coffers of one of India’s poorest and least developed states.

Dubbed the “Untouchable Queen” for her success in championing the cause of Dalits, one of India’s former backward castes, and turning their support into numbers at the ballot box, Mayawati has ruled over India’s most populous state since sweeping to power in the 2007 elections.

Mayawati was summoned by the Supreme Court in June of last year after her decision to spend a reported $425 million of state funds on statues of Dalit heroes, including herself, was challenged.

In January, after reportedly shelling out 60 billion rupees ($1.3 billion) on statues and memorials throughout the impoverished state, the chief minister tabled a state government motion to form a 1,000-officer strong statue protection force.

Omar Abdullah, the youngest ever chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, completed a year in office on January 5.

The administration, youth and people of the state had huge expectations from Abdullah after the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference formed a coalition government with the Congress party last year.

“When he came into people, he wanted to prove himself as an excellent leader, but looking down a year that hope is slowly but surely diminishing because nothing concrete is happening on the ground,” says Raja Muneeb, a local resident of Srinagar.