Ambedkar in, JP out in Maya’s rule

The SP government had conceived the Rs 200-crore project in memory of JP. Construction had also started on the Ram Manohar Lohia Park. The Rashtriya Nirman Nigam (RNN) and Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), which are ensuring that Ambedkar Park is restored to its former glory, have now decided to shelve the projects of the previous government.

When SP was in power, the RNN and LDA, which had picked the spot in the Lohia Park where the research institute was to stand, had promised to complete the project within two years. But justifying the latest decision, new LDA vice-chairman Harbhajan Singh has said the work had started without reference to the maps and obtaining proper approvals.

Soon after taking over as LDA chief, Singh had convened a meeting of the engineers who had told him that a map had been submitted to the department.

RNN had started work with the assumption that there wouldn’t be any problem obtaining approval. “Let the engineers approve the map before the work is resumed,” Singh said. 

But the Samajwadi Party strongly believes that by stopping work, the new government is deliberately trying to cap the “spread of socialist ideology”. Ram Saran Das, the state SP chief, said: “The new government does not want any progressive research and any publicity of the symbols of socialism in India. The CM must remember that many controversies had bogged down Ambedkar Park as well. We had criticised the irregularities, but never opposed a park only because it was named after Dr Ambedkar. JP or Dr Ambedkar don’t belong to one political party, but to the entire nation.”