Alka Verma-
Published On: October 11, 2021 at 12:55 IST
The State Government of Karnataka is currently considering to table a Bill regarding the Protection of all the Statues and Flag Posts that were installed without seeking proper permission.
The Discussions on Protection of Statues came to light after the Karnataka High Court ordered the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to demolish all such unauthorised statues.
The Order of the Karnataka High Court is based on the 2009 Judgement of the Supreme Court and it applies to all the districts of the State.
Currently, the Karnataka government, as well as the BBMP, are concerned about the public reaction if the order comes into force as there are around 500 statues in Bengaluru.
It also includes statues of Dr BR Ambedkar, 12th-century social reformer Basaveshwara, Bengaluru founder Kempegowda and late Kannada actors Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan, Ambareesh and Shankar Nag.
“Considering the public sentiments and sensitivity of the issue, we need to protect statues that have already been installed. A bill may be brought in if needed, “stated JC Madhuswamy, who is the Minister for Law and Parliamentary affairs.
“People came together to install these statutes out of respect for the personalities; a lot of emotion is involved. The government must look for ways to protect them, “stated Uday Garudachar, a BJP MLA from Chickpet.
Also, NA Haris, who is a Congress MLA from Shanthinagar, stated that the government must take adequate steps to protect the existing statues so that later they can allot the places to install new statues.
Currently, the Karnataka Government is also keeping an eye on the movements of the Tamil Nadu Government where a similar issue is prevailing as the Madras High Court has directed to remove all the statues from public places.
It should be noted here that a similar Bill, named the Religious Structures (Protection) Bill, 2021, was passed in the State to protect all religious structures from demolition.
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