Public Spaces in Lucknow -the influence of power (page 5)

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Where Chamars form a substantial minority of OBC (Other Backward Castes) and to which Mayawati belongs. The backward castes have found a voice and a platform in Bahujan Samaj Party, and through their substantial vote bank have an opportunity to overturn long centuries of exploitation and repression by the higher Castes. A populist by temperament and because of political exigency, Mayawati has not hesitated to use every ploy available to promote her party's ideological rhetoric. Projecting herself and BSP as instruments of social change in the caste ridden structure of Indian polity, she has pushed for rural development through Ambedkar village schemes, accessibility to higher education through Ambedkar universities and colleges, and schemes for women in education and domestic violence prevention. The degree to which these programs have been Successful is open to question, but what is manifestly visible is her effort to inject into the urban Space of Lucknow a memorial culture celebrating the Successes of Social reformers and her own party in improving the condition of Dalits.

The very visible five monumental projects in Lucknow include the Parivartan Chowk, the Prerna Kendra, Ambedkar Maidan, Ambedkar Memorial, and Ramabai Maidan. Two of these are building complexes (Prerna Kendra and Ambedkar Memorial) and the remaining three are public Spaces. Where the building structures are dwarfed by the extent of enclosed Space. They are all commemorative spaces, celebrating the leadership of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Bhimrao Ambedkar and his wife Ramabai Ambedkar, and other historical figures that BSP regards as champions of the Dalits and important social reformers of the 19th century. This is done through an ambitious iconographic program consisting of paintings, etchings and statuary. The former two are narrative genres of the popular art kind, while the bronze statuary is evocative of the persona and the ideological rhetoric she embodies.
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