Brilliant ! Awesome ! Both poetry and the pics :-). Thanks Ranjith for reminding us of our yet to start job of re-writing the history with the keyboard too.

Awesome! Passionate and true. I had never thought of Ambedkar Park as reflection of history before reading this poem. Thanks for sharing it!

I believe there is need to relook at history. I think statues are important sources to begin this process .

yes preeti. This is precisely the point I wanted to tell. The attempt by media to target this project should be seen in the light of the Brahminical discomfort with Dalit history. And even the so called sympathizers of Dalit cause would never like to see DAlits writing their OUR own history. That is why they happily party with the Indian Brahminical national media in accusing and abusing Mayavati.
Thanks

Thanks Rajesh and Anoop for the kind words. I am not a poet; but it seems this life will make me a poet. In fact, all Dalits are poets and philosophers in one respect or other, I feel. Life has made them poets/philosophers!

i totally agree with ranjith- the discomfort that the india media and academia have with the resurrection and creation of dalit histories, speaks of their true composition. the pics and the poem are remarkable in driving home the point! hail mayawati for this move… hail ranjith for its explanation! it is too overwhelming!

Jaibhim

No doubt it brings back the Sakyan history of glory to the modern world.

Namo Buddhay and jay Bheem brother,

It is stone that live long then human being, because of its capability to face all hard things…..We all know that because of this unique natural power, We can explain our history to world that we are the “Mul Nivasi” of our Bharat….Today because of Lord Buddha’s stone image people are getting true knowledge and great teaches of Buddha, writtern on stone by his follower……
Very same thingh is Sister Mayawati ji doing again, So in future nobody can cheat us…We have to highlight this work all of our people, so they can come at same plateform and understand the deep thinking of Behan ji for our future…

We all members of BCI(The Buddhist Community Of India), welcome and thanks your steps for Bheem Mission (One day whole India would be Buddhist)…..

May Lord Buddha Bless You Bro.
bciindia@googlegroups.com

The most magnificent manifestation of our collective aspirations. mayawati is on her way to glory and greatest historical accomlishment of modern india. The humbug tormentors must be aghast at its enormousness and therefore their hysterical reaction is justified in more than one ways, they are fighting a war already lost. Each one of us who wishes to contribute in making the history and writting it in its grandniece must start visiting Lucknow, the epitome and embodiment of our mission and also encourage our people to make it as their 21st vow to visit ambedkar memorial at least once in their life time. let us start Lucknow challo movement. thanks ranjeet for powerful expressions

Its a awesome work dome by BSP. I must need to visit to UP to see all these kind of work.
Three cheers for BSP and Mayawatiji.

we need similar things in Maharashtra (Mahar- rashtra) to keep Babashab mission to be fulfill.
mmwasnik@hotmail.com

thank you very much Tarang
Jai bheem!

Plausible !!! Please upload more pictures.

These statues tell us true hiatory of Sakyans, past and present. We appreciate the work done by Mayawati. No doubt Manuvadis feel ashamed as true history is getting re-written.

Thanks very much to showing us our history. I hope we can collect more and compile it, which we can proud and show to the world that this the Dalit’s history and Dalits were real Indian, and the day is not very far when we’ll take over. That’s the way Baba Sahib shown us and we have to follow it. Educate, Organize and Agitate.
Param Kainth
Vancouver

Dhammek Stupa, at Sarnath near Varanasi, commemmorating the Turning of the Wheel of Dhamma, where the Buddha gave his first sermon after his enlightenment at Buddhagaya, stands tall to tell us what Buddha taught us thousands of years ago more than any human being can tell us today. The Dhammek has stood there more than two millenia, whereas the average life of a human being has been under hundred years or less. Generations to come will gratefully remember Behenji Mayawati for awakening us to our Buddhist past through stone images as Emperor Asoka did with Asoka Pillars.

Most of the Asoka Pillars have survuved to this day despite their destruction ordered by King Pushyamitra Sunga who assassinated the last Buddhist king Brihadrith. Let this be a lesson to Mulayam Singh who has threatened to destroy the stone images erected by Behenji Mayawati.

P.P. Lakshman
July 10, ‘09

yes she is the great icon of india we must to suport for her in any way

Dear brother Ranjith,
All along I have been reading this statue spree of Ms Mayawathi through the eyes of mainstream media that is looking every opportunity to malign her. I did not realize the grandeur of this massive undertaking in terms of revisiting the Dalit history that long been ignored and neglected.
Though I am not a poet, your photo feature touched my heart so deeply that I want to commend you for this simple and brilliant piece. Buildings looks are superb in quality and aesthetics, photos are beautiful and the poetry is simple and touching.

I cannot wait to see these buildings of Dalit heritage and I am sure UP will become a pilgrimage to Dalits all around the world. Maharashtra, the sacred land of Mahatma Jyothiba Phule, Sahuji Maharaj, and Babasaheb needs BSP more than any other place. Does Maharashtrians listening?

Still, I feel the work would have been more meaningful had it sans Ms Mayawati’s own statues that is giving much fodder to malign her and her great work of rewriting Dalit history.
Who better suited to be memorialized than Babasaheb and Manyawar Kanshi Ramji who changed the history of India in a few years of their life time than the galaxy of Indian leaders who tried to defend the status quo for centuries with so many philosophies and sometimes with deceitful talk and acts?

It would have been more intelligent (more defendable) had she left building of her statues to the leaders that come after her.

Anyway, accept my greetings.
With regards
Benjamin Paul Kaila
http://www.friendsforeducation.org

Dear all,
I am really touched by the response. Thanks to all for great support. Yes Paramji we will collect more pictures and spread the message once the work completes at Ambedkar Park. It is surely going to be the ideological/cultural/political/social meeting place of all Dalit/Bahujans. However, this should not blind us 4m the ground realities where Dalits still have to fight against the horror of Brahminical caste system. Let us all unite to fight against the terror of the system of castes and debrahminise ourselves. Let us be proudly part of this process.
Jai Bheem !!

when raw stone can reveale the history of the stoneage and others, the well carved stones in form of memorials would very much portary the praid of the Dalit history

Can anyone please explain me the benefits of building parks and statutes? Even the greatest of structures have not endured time, then how these “rocks” are going to tell our history to coming generations? Although I have agree that media has jumped on the bandwagon to criticize Mayawati, it doesn’t necessarily obliterate the fact that this probably is excessive spending of the public money. Perhaps, if it were some BJP/left wing leader, these kind of things would have gone as normal business.

Ashuthosh,
my take would be like this: Big projects need big money. And this in no way divert any one from spending money on other aspects. You may like to read our blog post ‘A small fact that might interest you’ which tells how silent we were when UPA failed to use Rs 72,500 crore for Dalits(http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=197).
We need to mark this society with our own symbols. It could be through building monuments/statues/re-writing text books/making films/music albums/composing songs/creating our own abuses/constructing our own factories/encouraging our own business/creating Dalit capitalism etc etc. It is the larger project of debrahminising in which we all should play our part. Mayavati is playing her part with this historic venture. Let us all support her.
Jai Bheem !

dear,

the concept of writing OUR history is good. it is needed.
but making one’s own statutes is not good anyway.
there we should be skeptical.

the poetry looks nice and good. congrts

thanks

dear bijuraj,
Thanks.
but tell me, Can any one ever delete Mayavati from Dalit history? One cannot. So her statues should be there.
We were never skeptical when the colonial masters and media constructed the myth called Gandhi. even gandhi happily sat in front of cameras and allowed them to create the historical myth of “mahatma” during colonial period. Do u think gandhi was a fool? he was one of the shrewd politicians..his legacy has been constantly ensured by means of re-creating it in various symbolic forms which includes text book narratives to statues to media romanticisations…
how can u expect the counter narrative to be only “politically correct” ? This is the war of two civilisations; two cultures; two worlds… and in which statues will be broken and created…
thanks

Dear Ranjith,
Thanks much for your reply. It is absurd to ask me “Can any one ever delete Mayavati from Dalit history?” Because I never asked a question like or doubted so. And I never said Gandhi was good. I was not against to construct statues. I agree with it by some extent. As part of constructing an alternative history we can support it. But constructing one’s own statue is not good. Because the ‘history’ she is making may not represent the history of Dalits, but her own. (May be I am wrong. But only history can prove it). We should disagree with her now. Because she has to prove her credentials. In the past she did some kind of tie up with upper caste-savrana\ Brahmanical - fascists. I am not against Mayavathi’s move to construct the statues of Baba saheh or Kanshi ram. Here, in your argument you made a mistake unconsciously. You equated Gandhi with Mayavathi. You are coming to my point unintentionally. You are saying Gandhi was a shrewd politician. Then what is the difference between Gandhi and Mayavathi.
Yes. You are right. “We were never skeptical when the colonial masters and media constructed the myth called Gandhi’. Now I ask you a simple question. We don’t want to be skeptical now?
Here, we should reread the conflict between Gandhi and Ambedkar. Ambedkar was against the construction of his own idols. He repeatedly negated the move to make him an idol. Forget it? Later, history made his statues. You are failing to understand the correct political-cultural line of Ambedkar too.

Mayavavathi’s statues should be erected. Not by her. But by the history. By the movement of dalits. There we should wait for the time.
Friend, I am asking you to be just frank with facts. If we cannot see the realities, we can’t create any alternative history.
Not emotions, but logic, clear understanding and correct alternative movements will construct an alternative good history.

Thanks much
Bijuraj

@Ranjith: you wrote ” it is the larger project of debrahminising in which we all should play our part.” I am sorry, but I am hardly obsessed with the idea of “debrahminising.” I can tell you simple facts that Mayawati has not done much for the Dalits of UP. We run a non-profit organization that has a college and a school, and even after writing many letters she (meaning her staff) has not responded for changing the category of the institution. There are many other examples of this kind of behavior. Corruption is rampant in the UP government. If you have want to support her, do it, but don’t ask for my support. She is far removed from Dr. Ambedkar’s philosophy, and she is far removed from his people.

Beautiful, moving, many thanks

@ashuthosh,

If i start writing about such cases in the context of Delhi or even abt my own model state Kerala, you may end up saying that UP is much better. I am not trying to argue for or against the bureaucracy of UP, rather want to say that the issue pointed out by you is not unique to UP alone. Fight against it. But that should not deter you from understanding the relevance of the larger project of debrahminising and writng Dalit history. May I know why you are not interested in ‘debrahminising’ yourself? I respect your feelings, but beg to differ dear.

@ bijuraj
1) doesnt matter whether u said or not.. my question is whether u agree with what i said or not.. if u agree that Mayavati is an inherent part of Dalit history, i find no reason for any one to clamour against her statues. whether it s made during her time or not doesnt matter for me. and do u have any doubt that Mayavati is not a shrewd politician? she is shrewd; bz of that only she could break the caste barriers of Indian polity.
2) And biju, one needs to move ahead of Ambedkar’s time and find solutions according to the contemporary needs. One cannot use Ambedkar to live in the past alone.
3) “Mayavati’s statues should be erected by history.” sounds good. but toooo emotional. The logical solutions is to make it. Mayavati is doing it
Thanks

“Blogging and loitering in Facebook pages
(their Orkut profiles stand deleted, reasons best known to them)”

Bu Ha Ha Ha

I will remember these lines always.

yes. she is making her own statute. not by others. great!!
donot let our own people to laugh at us.
and i am moving away from this debate.
thanks and love

@bijuraj
calm down dear. All kingdoms are built by kings/queens only. and they only write histories. OUR mistake is that WE never cared to mark our history. You know what happened aftr that. The brahminism coopted all our traditions and made it part of it. Now we have no proof to even reclaim it… WE cannot let such things happen again.. WE will not let that happen. That is why I feel the need to support Mayavati. I am proud of her; like Prabin (see his post in the blog) I also love her statues; i feel really proud now; feel like a human being ; a citizen; and my nation is waiting for me. and then why should i bother abt who is laughing at or what; this is nothing new for us. for centuries they laughed at us. OUR people also had to be part of that. same thing might happen even today. I am least bothered abt such moralistic worries and claims.
Thanks

Emperors built huge structures. How many have stood the ravages of the time. If another govt. decides to remodel these parks and change them totally what will you do. Why should public money be wasted for it and why should public space be used for this?. You can acquire 100 acres by paying from your pocket and erect 100 statues with your own money. But why use public money for all this. Dr.Ambedkar did not use public money to to promote himself.

@ravi
“If another govt. decides to remodel these parks and change them totally what will you do.”

nice question.. u know Ashoka not bz of he spent so much money for the welfare of the people, but bz of the structures/statues he constructed and those percolated into the subconscious as text book narratives/film story/folk tale etc . tangibility of symbols in constructing history cannot be undermined. mayawati should also take efforts to erect statues in text books/films/popular culture/academia/universities/colleges/schools/parks/short stories/poems/dreams etc. this is how Gandhi, nehru, even indira and rajiv became part of our collective memory.. elsewho would have remembred them?!
and what is this public you are taking about? the majority of this public belongs to Dalit-bahujan.. and as a citizen belonging to this public i feel proud to contribute to this process. howver you have every right not to do so.
thanks for the comment

that one between facebook and orkut..
saw this interesting comparison between facebook and myspace today:
Facebook, MySpace: A race/class divide?

hi sudeep,
nice
i have noticed that some people who claim to have no time to waste in orkut, of late started accounts in facebook and quite actively involved there… yea apart from personal choices (persona is political na?) i find a class/caste/race divide in that choice itself.. so it just came out while scribbling few lines abt my politics.
it would be an interesting topic or a post..
thanks for pointing it out
love

Dear ranjith,
Congratulations for bringing the debate on history in stones to the highest level of political prudence. Those skeptical of Mayawati at present has almost remained doubtful about their own hiistoy and exitence not to think of relevence. It feels great to experience and be part of such scholarly and great intellectual contribution to history making.Our liberation movement is in its decisive phase, our onslaught is ruthless and their reaction , the last flickers of a dying flame. so far as erecting ones own statues, it is the declaration of war agaist the notion of self abnegation our comminity has been pathatically infacted with. Our movement of self respect is nothing but loving onself, respecting oneself, becoming sovereign the master of our own. Anybody who is ashamed of not declaring one’s abiliti, aspiration, assertion and achievment is infacted by self-abnegation virus injected by brahmanical masters. Mayawati is a great politician pursuing missionary aspirations. Her own giant statues are cultural religious statements of supreme importance and are milestones in the glorius journey of self enlightenment.

Bahen Mayavati has don the history for rememberace of our great leaders.She is the real leader of not only Bahujan but for mankind. long live bahenji.

Where is the park… I see all concrete…
Why not use this money in the upliftment of poor and needy people than to build such palaces for BMW( Behan Maya Wati)
I noida also such concrete park.

Regards,

hi all

first of all ,congrates for this blog,
i had create another platform http://bsp-parichya.ning.com/

Ashutosh : had u write the same letter to another political party about ur school ?. do u think another party accept your request immediately. this is foolish to think that mayawati goverment is blocking your request.

this is foolish to think like that, mayawati is not there to solve individual problem like your school issues.

Awesome… ambedkar park, pictures and poetry are an example of immaculate art. The park has its own charm of beauty and art and so the poetry. Thanks Ranjith for such a nice blog.

really true…this poem and park is an attack on the old indian history dominated by the brahmins and kshtrayis. The dalits and their role in history is always neglected, and when Mayawati wants to show the dark face of history, the role of dalits, the media and political party criticizes it. Congratulations for blog.

Dear we need awarness of our people those are not know value of our parks. Parks will be only proof of indicator of our movement and mission.

its gud why other thing its bad for lucknow ,,,,,,, aarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr yaro lko ki surat badal di hai we all proude of u ……..well done …maya ji

In India more people are from rural background, illiteracy rate more in villages specially in Dalits so they can not read news paper, articles, history books. So More Statues , Ambedkar parks are needed to spread our History so that every Dalit will be proud to about their history. when Dalit stands in front of the Great Dalits statue it boost their moral support, Confidence,Motivation

This is a good achivement of bsp goverment.

Thank you