Public Spaces in Lucknow -the influence of power (page 4)

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Hazrat Mahal's patronage to the arts in Lucknow is not documented, although she was responsible for building fortified ramparts around Lucknow in 1857. In Kathmandu, Nepal, where she lived for two decades after her departure from Avadh, she built a mosque (that is no longer standing) and was buried in its premises. Other Nawabi begums who had an independent source of income were builder of Imambaras with mosques within them. The well-known ones are Moghul Sahiba, Mallika Jamani and Begum Sahiba (in the Residency)." A garden on the banks of the river Gomti was built by Ghazi-ud-din Haidar and named after Vilayaiti Begum (or Begum Sahiba, wife of Nasir-ud-din Haidar). Khurshid Zaidi, wife of Saadat Ali Khan, was memorialised by her son Ghazi-ud-din Haidar in a mausoleum complex on the northern end of Kaiserbagh. Imambaras and mosques named after their begums and their mausoleums could be said to have their presence by association, although usually there is hardly any information ever available on the patroness except the dates of her birth and death.

Every Indian child is aware of the other great Indian heroine of the Mutiny drama, Rani Lakshmi Bai, in part because of her famous statue, riding a horse, with the sword in her upraised arm, her tiny son strapped to her back, as she fights the British. visual culture plays a significant part in the act of commemoration in India not only by capturing the likeness of a historical person through engraving, painting, and other visual displays but also by making these representations the focus of anniversary rituals. Commemoration, or celebration of the memory, thus becomes a collective ongoing re-enactment of the greatness of the leader in the public realm that the post-independence rulers of India exploit to their great political advantage.

Perhaps no other leader has so consistently and vociferously promoted her legacy through an aggressive program of statue and monument building than Mayawati, the present Chief Minister, in Lucknow. Like her other administrative measures, her impressive building record is controversial, often making headlines in the media and causing public outrage. Currently, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the fourth time and the leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party, she has been compared to Mohammad bin Tughluq in her ambitious Ventures by her detractors. First elected to power in 1995, she immediately began her building campaign and pursued it relentlessly every time she came into power (1997, 2002 and 2007). A teacher by profession, she joined politics in 1984 after meeting Kanshi Ram, founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party, which represents Dalits and other lower backward castes. The party's strongest base is in Uttar Pradesh.
(Continues...)

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