Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati brought all work on the dozen-odd memorials being built in Lucknow to an immediate halt on Friday, within barely an hour after the Supreme Court gave her a stern warning asking why she had not done so already.
The UP government had given the court an undertaking last Tuesday it would stop building the memorials after the court maintained it amounted to using public money for a political purpose. But work on the statues continued.
The judge took notice of press reports saying the UP government was not honouring its commitment and strongly rebu-ked the government’s counsel, saying it was ‘playing with fire’.
The court gave the UP chief secretary time till September 17 to explain. Work, however, was stopped immediately.
Curiously, in the case of a similar memorial at Noida, n SC bench refused to stop the construction on Friday.