Miniature statues of Modi, Yogi in UP BJP offices

◗ Both the statues have been made by a party worker from Chitrakoot and orders for more such statues have already been placed

Miniature statues of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath will now adorn the offices of BJP in all 75 districts.

A miniature statue, made of fibre, was gifted to chief minister Yogi Adityanath on his birthday on Tuesday by BJP general secretary Sunil Bansal. Later in the evening, an ABVP leader Abhishek Kaushik gifted a statue of Yogi Adityanath to the chief minister himself.

Both the statues have been made by a party worker from Chitrakoot and orders for more such statues have already been placed. The BJP has already built its own offices in 62 of the 75 districts.

“We want statues of Modi and Yogi to be installed in all party offices at the district level. The statues are not big — they are about 16 inches tall — and can be placed on a table or shelf,” said a party leader.

He added that the craze for Mr Modi and Mr Yogi remains undiminished despite recent setbacks in byelections. “People want more and more memorabilia of these two leaders,” he added.

This, incidentally, will be the first time that the BJP will be following the statue culture which was initiated by the Bahujan Samaj Party. BJP offices have photographs of their ideologues, including Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but statues are not common.

The BSP, on the other hand, has been promoting the statue culture and Ms Mayawati is the first living leader to have her statue installed along side that of late Kanshi Ram.