Monumental parks costing state $383m

NEW DELHI - It's a display of political extravagance even by India's standards.

Mayawati, the chief minister of India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, has opened 15 parks in the state capital Lucknow that resemble modern-day Parthenons.

The parks, inaugurated by Mayawati, who comes from the Dalits or untouchable caste, are a huge but bizarre image-boosting extravaganza.

They feature giant bronzes, stone and marble statues and friezes of herself, fellow Dalit community leaders and her BSP or National Political Party symbol, the elephant.

In one larger-than-life statue, Mayawati clutches a handbag and points like a conquering heroine at a wall fresco in which she is depicted as a devotee of Dalit leader Bhim Rao Ambedkar, showering his carving with rose petals.

The carvings are estimated to have cost the state about $383 million, money Mayawati's critics say could have been spent on basics like water, power, jobs, education and healthcare for the state's 170 million people, many abjectly poor.

"I want to make clear that no funds earmarked for education or for health have been used in the construction [of the parks]" declared Mayawati, 53, who has positioned herself as the champion of tens of millions of Dalits across India and frequently voiced her ambition to become Prime Minister.

Their construction has provided temporary jobs for many, she said at the hastily organised inauguration ceremony, brought forward a week after a public interest petition was filed in the Supreme Court demanding that Mayawati be restrained from building such parks paid for by public funds.

It is not the first time Mayawati's expensive tastes have gained attention. She recently acquired a US-made Hawker Beechcraft 900 XP private jet for US$15.8 million to save her 10 minutes of flying time on frequent visits to the federal capital New Delhi.