Arrest Mayawati for razing Patel’s statue, SP to Centre

Samajwadi Party demanded the arrest of Mayawati and District Magistrate of Pratapgarh for allegedly razing a statue of India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.

Samajwadi Party on Saturday demanded the arrest of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and District Magistrate of Pratapgarh for allegedly razing a statue of India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.

“A statue of Sardar Patel was to be unveiled on his birth anniversary on October 31. But the district magistrate ordered that the statue and the platform on which it was built be razed. We demand from the Union Govt that the district magistrate and the Chief Minister be arrested,” SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said.

Yadav alleged that District Magistrate Sainthal Pandiyan C had issued the order at Mayawati’s behest.

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He alleged that though the land on which the statue was built belongs to the Gram Sabha, the state government has tried to create an issue out of it.

“The process of putting up the statue was started four months back but nobody had objected then,” he said.

SP general secretary Amar Singh, who was also present at the press conference, read out a letter written by Pratapgarh MP Akshay Pratap Singh, in which the latter maintained that the Gram Sabha had given permission for using the land.

Yadav said if his party came to power, “it would jail the district magistrate and Mayawati for this act”.

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“Sardar Patel stood by Mahatma Gandhi and fought with him shoulder to shoulder against the British. He should not be shown disrespect,” Yadav said.

The statue was to be inaugurated by MLA from Kunda assembly constituency and Pratap’s cousin Raghuraj at Katra Gulab Singh, about 30 kms from Pratapgarh.