Elephants.. in Lucknow & in London

There is something common between London and Lucknow these days.....

Both the cities are adorning statues of elephants.

Mayawati – the chief minister of the most populous Indian state of Uttar Pradesh – has erected statues of elephants – the symbol of her political party (Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP) – all over Lucknow. Then there are organisations in the Queen’s land, which have put up figurines of the pachyderm at several places all over London.

The only difference between the two places is that when Mayawati gets elephants’ statues erected she does not think about the animal. Her government is least concerned about the status of the elephants or for that matter any other animal anywhere in the world or even in her own state. The only purpose behind those hundreds of elephants in pink stone – which can be seen anywhere and everywhere in Lucknow – is to push her political agenda and tell her people that she has immortalised the elephant (read the BSP).

But the elephants figurines, which adorn the lush green lawns in London – be it the greens of the parliament or any tourist site like London Eye – they stand there with a message – save the Asiatic elephants – which is on the brink of extinction because of shrinking habitat. There are agencies which are exhorting people to come forward and save the Asian Elephants. The agencies call on people to join the elephant family.

Organisations like Eco Movers and Fallow & Ball also organised an Elephant Parade in London, sometime back. The companies provided paints for colouring the statues band electric vehicles to transport the statues to different places. Various artists and designers painted the elephants’ statues in striking colours. Now these vibrantly coloured elephants are kept at various public places sending across the message to save the animal by adopting it.