Amid opposition from political parties and the row it triggered, the Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided not to go ahead with its plan to build a Shivalaya Park within the premises of Gautam Buddha Park. Municipal commissioner Sudhir Kumar said on Wednesday that the proposed park would now be developed at another location.
“We are developing theme-based parks in Kanpur -- one on the city’s role in the freedom struggle, another on its place in industrialisation, and a religious-themed park under which Shivalaya Park is proposed,” Kumar said.
“But it was never inside Buddha Park. It was planned on vacant land behind it. We are now in the process of identifying an alternative site,” he added.
The civic body had earlier obtained clearance from the Kanpur Development Authority (KDA) in August to construct the Shivalaya Park, modelled on a similar facility in Prayagraj, with replicas of the 12 Jyotirlingas. The project, estimated at ₹15 crore, was later shifted to the vicinity of Gautam Buddha Park after initial plans to set it up at Shatabdi Park in Rooma.
The proposal triggered a pushback from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati and Azad Samaj Party chief and Nagina MP Chandra Shekhar Azad, with both demanding its immediate withdrawal.
{{/usCountry}}The proposal triggered a pushback from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati and Azad Samaj Party chief and Nagina MP Chandra Shekhar Azad, with both demanding its immediate withdrawal.
{{/usCountry}}Taking to X, Mayawati had described the move as “entirely unacceptable”, warning that it risked fomenting communal discord.
“India is a secular country where people of all faiths have their own places of worship. Gautam Buddha Park is a centre of reverence for Buddhists and Ambedkarites. The government’s move to establish another religion’s shrines here is unjustified and must be stopped immediately,” she wrote.
The Gautam Buddha Park, commissioned by Mayawati in 1997 during her second term as chief minister, has long been seen as a symbol of the Bahujan identity politics that her party espouses.
Chandra Shekhar also objected, urging chief minister Yogi Adityanath to relocate the project. In a letter, he termed the park “a symbol of compassion, equality and fraternity of Gautam Buddha and Dr Ambedkar”, arguing that converting it into a religious site would offend Bahujan sentiments.
Over the last three days, Dalit bodies met the authorities and staged protests, demanding that KMC shelve its plan.