NEXT ON PADMAVATI: STATUE IN UDAIPUR

9FT STRUCTURE WILL SHOW THE QUEEN IN ACT OF JAUHAR

JAIPUR:

With assembly elections due next year, the Raj as than government is set to install a ninefeet-highs ta tue of Raj put queen Pad mini inUdaipur,w eeks after violent protests stalled the release of a film on the subject.

The statue of Pad mini, or Padmavati, will show the queen performing Jauhar, aR aj put practice of self-immolation by women to avoid dish on our at the hands of e ne mies,Udaip ur mayor Chandra Sing ht old Hindu stan Times.

Pad min i’ s statue will be put up along with other heroes and freedom fighters from the Raj put, O BC and tribal communities who hail from the Me war region .“The contract for the statues has been given to a firm in Jaipur and the statues will be ready in three months,” said Singh.

The state has been rocked by protests by caste groups such as the Shri Rajput Karni Sena, who issued death threats to the actors and director of movie Pad ma va ti, forcing the producers to defer its release. The protesters say the film dishonours the queen by depicting romance between Padmavati and Muslim emperor A laud dinKhilji. The film makers have denied all charges while historians are divided over whether Padmavati ever existed.

A year ago, the Udaipur municipal corporation had floated the idea of installing nine statues of heroes and freedom fighters from Mewar at traffic inter sections—each nine-feethigh with a four feet high pedestal and a weight of 1,300 kg. The total cost of each statue is ₹1 crore.

Sources said after the public outcry over the film, state home minister Gulab Chand Kataria, who belongs to Udaipur, has asked for the work to be speeded up .“We want to honour Me war’ s heroes… the contract was given a year ago. But work got delayed due to a court case against the installation of the statues. Six months were wasted in the legal battle which we finally won,” Singh told Hindustan Times.

The statues commissioned were of Padmini, Rana Sanga, Rana Kumbha, Bappa Rawal, Ran a Ham ir, Raj Sing h—all rulers of Me war—two freedom fighters from the OBC community, Vjay Singh Pathik and Kesari Singh Bareth, and tribal leader Gobind Guru.

THE STATUE WILL SHOW THE QUEEN PERFORMING JAUHAR, A PRACTICE OF SELFIMMOLATION BY WOMEN TO AVOID DISHONOUR AT THE HANDS OF ENEMIES