The war of idols at Bangalore University

Buddha statue forcefully erected in the place reserved for Statue of goddess Saraswati at BU! Buddha or Saraswathi or both- Sinister caste politics out in BU.

Why not the statue of 12thto century social reformer Basavanna? Why not the statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda?

Yes Buddha is a universal symbol for truth and enlightenment! What about Goddess Saraswathi? Is she not the incarnation of wisdom and enlightenment?It is not about Idols! It is simply a case of caste politics to ruffle the feathers and to keep the pot melting.

A simple move to replace an old idol of Saraswati with a new one got complicated when known persons moved a statue of Buddha into the place meant for the new Saraswati statue, creating a controversy and necessitating a police guard at the administrative block.  

The issue began as The Bangalore University found itself in a controversy after a few squatters installed a Gautama Buddha idol in place of the Saraswati idol at the entrance of the administrative block in Jnanabharathi campus.

The Saraswathi idol was and is the symbol of Gnanabharathi campus admin bock. Every Vice Chancellor before assuming charge pays his or her respects to goddess Saraswathi before entering the VC office in the third floor.

The Saraswati idol here was installed in 1973 by then Vice-Chancellor H Narasimhaiah.

A crack was noticed and VC took a decision to get the statue replaced with a new one. The new statue arrived and it was to be placed on its citadel.

In the meanwhile a few henchmen believed to be the staunch supporters of the former Registrar of BU stormed into the admin block and placed a statue of Buddha on the citadel where the Saraswathi statue was to be placed.

Now I am told that authorities have decided to place both Saraswathi and Buddha side by side. Both statues together weigh almost 1000kgs. I pray the admin block won't give way under the pressure.

This is not a spur of the moment decision. A statue of Buddha weighing about 500kgs cannot be created on the spot. It was a planned move to create caste disturbances in the campus. This caste politics is a ritual and every VC will have to face it as long as this EX registrar and his hench men are on the BU rolls.He creates these disturbances to keep the VCs under his control.

The irony of the situation is that the VC has refused to register an FIR with the police. He has simply written a letter. A letter is not an FIR. So the police have decided to keep themselves Masterly inactive.Many unseen hands are at work not to get any action.

Minster for higher education and the Home Minister have also objected to the change of idols- from Saraswathi to Buddha.

Now the battle lines are drawn. One group is for Goddess Saraswathi. Another wants only the statue of Gautama Buddha.So have both and be ready for many more!