Mayawati may be getting all the flaks for setting up memorials with her life-size statues in UP but similar exercises dedicated to the Nehru-Gandhi family have been going on for decades throughout the country and what’s worse, more are in the offing, without anybody raising an eyebrow.

The latest one is an attempt by the commissioner of the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) to get all the 570 Navodaya schools in the country to develop a corner of green patch within their premises which would be named “Rajiv Gandhi Smriti Van” and which would have a bust of the former prime minister.  As per this directive, the task should be completed by August 20, which marks 66th birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi.

According to a report by the Indian Express, the newly appointed NVS Commissioner Manoj Singh thinks this is a fitting tribute to the former prime minister under whose tenure the schools, meant for providing quality education in rural areas, came up and has completed 25 years of their existence. 

In his letters to the school principals, the commissioner has not only asked this task to be given “top-most priority” he has also set the date by which seeds must be planted, the compliance report be sent and the manner in which the bust of Rajiv Gandhi be installed.
To make Rajiv’s legacy even more long lasting, the Indian Express report says, the Navodaya Vidayalaya Old Boys’ Association is set to be renamed itself “Rajivites”.

Mayawati may be guilty of doing all those memorial building exercise all by herself, there is no dearth of people doing so to perpetuate the “legacy” of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty—in this case an IAS officer who is expected to be loyal to the people of the country, rather than the family which happens to run the government on their behalf.