A look at statues unveiled across India ahead of 2024 polls

During Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit ahead of the Karnataka assembly polls, he unveiled statues of Kempegowda (founder of Bengaluru), Basaveshwara (Lingayat social reformer) in front of Vidhana Soudha and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Reports said the BJP’s move was aimed at striking a caste balance in the polls.

KCR in Telangana
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao unveiled a 125-foot tall bronze statue of BR Ambedkar on the banks of the Hussain Sagar lake in April. The statue is the tallest of Ambedkar in the country, made of over 360 tonnes of steel and 100 tonnes of bronze. It was built at a cost of nearly Rs 145 crore. Ambedkar’s grandson, Prakash Ambedkar, was invited as the chief guest. Dalits from all the 119 Assembly constituencies attended the event.

Akhilesh in Rae Bareli

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav unveiled a statue of Dalit icon Kanshiram in Rae Bareli in April.  According to reports, the SP leadership feels that an OBC-Dalit combination, in at least a dozen Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, has the ability to be a game changer for the 2024 elections.

Chauhan  in Omkareshwar

Ahead of the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan unveiled a 108-foot tall statue of the 8th-century Hindu spiritual leader Adi Shankaracharya.

Aaditya and Kamal Nath in Pandhurna

Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray and Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath unveiled a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Madhya Pradesh's Pandhurna district. Pandhurna has a sizable population of Maharashtrians.