Fallen Statues, Loud Corruption Allegations: Will Madhya Pradesh BJP Survive This Storm?

“The magnificence of this Mahakal Lok will offer a glimpse into supernatural divinity for many generations to come over a long period of time. It will infuse India’s cultural and spiritual consciousness with energy. There is a popular saying about Ujjain that ‘even death cannot invade the city of Mahakal’.”

These words were uttered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 11, 2022, as he inaugurated the Mahakal Lok corridor, built at a cost of hundreds of crores of rupees, inside the Mahakaleshwar temple complex. Located in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain, it is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas – temples dedicated to Lord Shiva – of the country.

But when the city of Mahakal, which even death cannot invade, witnessed a storm for the first time after the installation of the Mahakal Lok statues on May 28, alleged corruption got the better of it. Six of seven mega statues of the Saptarishis installed in Mahakal Lok, which were supposed to ‘offer a glimpse of supernatural divinity to many generations to come’, collapsed within a few minutes after a heavy storm hit the city. Thankfully, none of the devotees present were injured.

However, the incident exposed that the installed idols were made of Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP) instead of stone or metal, and hollow from the inside. Neither iron nor steel was used to fortify them. Both the government and the administration argued that it would have taken 10 years to make stone statues and the budget would have increased manifold.

Although the work order for the construction of the statues proposes that the installations would be made of FRP, questions are being raised about whether standards were followed while using FRP in making the idols.

The state Congress leadership called the incident a prime example of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s well-planned corruption. Substandard materials have been used in the making of idols and necessary methods for strengthening the FRP idols have been ignored, it alleged.

Politics heats up over damage to Mahakal Lok corridor

In poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, the opposition Congress is relentlessly attacking the BJP government led by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Ever since its victory in the Karnataka elections, the Congress has focused on cornering the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh on the same issues that helped it succeed in Karnataka. One such issue is corruption.

Before the destruction caused by heavy winds at Mahakal Lok, the Congress had been accusing the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh of 50% commissioning in public works, similar to the ‘40% commission’ charge against the former BJP government in Karnataka in the run-up to the state elections. After the incident, however, the opposition accused the government of 80% commissioning, not 50%, in Madhya Pradesh.

Soon after the incident, Congress state president and former chief minister Kamal Nath constituted a seven-member committee. After visiting the Mahakal Lok corridor, the committee said, “Looking at the level of shoddy construction, it seems that not 50%, but 80% commissioning has been done in these construction works. Otherwise, the Mahakal Lok which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 11, 2022 would not be in such a plight in just seven months.”

Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesperson K.K. Mishra, who was also part of the inquiry committee, told The Wire, “We have inspected the entire construction work. It is of absolutely poor quality. Even the tiles are coming out and almost all the idols have developed cracks. Some of them have almost been completely shattered.”

“The (BJP) government lost Karnataka because of 40% corruption. We had the misconception that there was 50% corruption in Madhya Pradesh. But upon seeing Mahakal Lok, we must say that 80% corruption has taken place here,” he added.

Meanwhile, another committee member, Congress MLA and former minister Sajjan Singh Verma, said, “Former chief minister Kamal Nath had not only approved the plan of Rs 350 crore to realise the vision of Mahakal Lok but also made a provision for budget allocation. Had he remained in power, high-quality construction would have been done within the same budget. But Shivraj Singh’s government has resorted to huge corruption by spending Rs 800 crore on sub-standard construction.”

The Lokayukta of Madhya Pradesh has taken suo motu cognisance of the damage done to the idols and ordered an inquiry.

Two complaints had already been filed before the state Lokayukta regarding the irregularities in Mahakal Lok, which are in line with the Congress party’s corruption charges.

One of the complaints was made by Congress MLA Mahesh Parmar from Ujjain’s Tarana assembly seat on May 18, 2022. In the complaint, Parmar alleged corruption in the works and payments done in the Mahakal Lok corridor. He accused the executive director of Ujjain Smart City of misusing his position to provide financial benefits to the contractor MP Babariya. It was stated in the allegation that the contractor used poor quality material instead of the approved material in the construction work.

It is noteworthy that Gujarat-based MP Babaria is the only company which got the contract to install the statues in Mahakal Lok.

Speaking to The Wire, Parmar said, “When the construction was going on, I raised questions about the quality of work. I also raised the question in the assembly and filed a complaint with the Lokayukta. The Lokayukta had also issued notices to 15 officials including Ujjain’s Collector, Smart City CEO, and Municipal Commissioner, but to no avail. Had an investigation been done then, the present situation would not arise.”

Another complaint was registered by Laxman Singh Thakur, a resident of Ujjain, accusing Ujjain Smart City Limited of causing financial loss to the government and giving financial benefit to the contractor.

In the complaint, he wrote, “Ujjain Smart City Limited has received the maximum amount from the Central government for Mahakal Public Works and Beautification, which was taken advantage of by the ex-officio President, Executive Director, Consultant and Engineers of Smart City. These officers know that there certainly is no accountability at the local level. Hence, the construction-related documents submitted to the Central Government were manipulated.”

The Lokayukta may not have taken any strict action on the two previous complaints, but taking suo motu cognisance of the recent incident in Mahakal Lok, it swung into action and ordered an investigation. On June 3, a five-member team of Lokayukta reached Mahakal Lok and inspected the installation site of the Saptarishi idols, now lying vacant, and other damaged idols. It has sought all the documents related to the purchase of idols from Ujjain Smart City Limited.

Congress sharpens attack on the BJP

However, the Congress has expressed a lack of confidence in this probe and has demanded Madhya Pradesh Lokayukta N.K. Gupta to stay away from the investigation. The opposition party alleges that the Lokayukta is working at the behest of the government.

Speaking to the media in the capital, Madhya Pradesh leader of opposition Govind Singh said, “N.K. Gupta is doing injustice despite holding the chair of the Lokayukta. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is not allowing constitutional institutions to function independently. A year ago, our MLA Mahesh Parmar had complained about the scam happening in Mahakal Lok. Why did Gupta cover up this corruption for so long? Those Lokayuktas, who are not just and shield corruption, are now investigating corruption in Mahakal Lok. What kind of investigation will they carry out and what should be expected from such a person?”

The leader of the Opposition has demanded that the investigation of Mahakal Lok scam should be supervised by the high court. He has also asked for the Lokayukta office to be shut down.

“I urge the chief minister to shut down the Lokayukta office of Madhya Pradesh,” he said. “The Mahakal Lok scam should be investigated only by a commission of high court judges. Only then the truth will come out. The people of Madhya Pradesh have lost faith in the Lokayukta. We cannot expect anything from them.”

Meanwhile, the members of the inquiry committee constituted by Kamal Nath have said that they would soon submit their report to the former chief minister. After studying the report, the Congress party intends to lodge a complaint with the police and will press for an FIR against the culprits. It also wants to file a public interest litigation (PIL) in the high court for a high-level inquiry.

Parmar has also written a letter to Prime Minister Modi amid widespread political backlash on the matter.

“Merely seven months after it was inaugurated by you, the idols of Saptarishis in Mahakal Lok were destroyed/damaged in a minor storm,” he wrote. “The idols were made up of FRP, while it was proposed that metal and stone statues would be installed. The pedestal of the idols was also not fixed properly. The installed idols are estimated to cost Rs 4.5 lakh each, but they have been purchased for Rs 30-35 lakh.”

In addition to citing the complaints filed by him and the question he raised in the assembly, Parmar stated, “In a rush to get you to inaugurate it and in the race to take credit for it, Madhya Pradesh government and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh are responsible for making this incident happen. The religious sentiments of the ‘jam’ community have been hurt as the Prime Minister of the country was kept in the dark. It involves corruption worth crores of rupees.”

He requested the Prime Minister to order an investigation of the matter and punish the culprits.

Rajya Sabha MP and former chief minister Digvijay Singh also said that the installation of fibre idols in place of stone statues in Mahakal Lok points to a scam.

BJP-Congress blame game

Madhya Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rajpal Singh Sisodia told The Wire, “The work of preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR) was done during the Kamal Nath government of the Congress. It was during Congress’ rule that it was decided which material to use for making the idols. Even the budget was passed for these idols by the then Congress government. It is a fact. In such a situation, the Congress putting the blame on us is a double-faced thing.”

Also read: MP: As First Phase of Mahakal Lok Corridor Is Inaugurated, BJP, Congress Scramble for Credit

“It would be called corruption if we claimed that the idols are made of stone but installed fibre ones instead,” he added. “The DPR states that the idols will be made of fibre. The idols installed are made of fibre. The payment was made for fibre idols. Then, where is the corruption? It all happened during their term and now they are blaming us.”

State urban administration minister Bhupendra Singh also commented on similar lines. In response to the allegations of corruption, he called a press conference and asked Congress to present concrete evidence or issue a public apology.

“Shivraj Singh’s government had acquired 100 acres of land in 2017 for the construction of Mahakal Lok, for which Rs 200 crore was allocated,” he further said. “After this, during the Kamal Nath government, the work order for Mahakal public works including idol installation was issued. The budget to install the idol was released by the Kamal Nath government. Congress is doing dirty politics over Mahakal Lok. The Congress’s allegation of corruption in Mahakal Lok is baseless. If the payment was made twice during the Congress government, then the Congress should answer whether it had committed corruption.”

Speaking to NDTV, Bhupendra Singh said, “The entire presentation took place when Sajjan Singh Verma, chairman of the Congress inquiry committee, was the minister in charge. There are proceedings bearing his signature. They had praised the tender prepared by us and the approvals granted by us back then and appreciated it. The meeting was held under his chairmanship. So, what happened now?”

It is true that the tender for the work of the first phase of Mahakal Rudrasagar Integrated Development Area (MRIDA) was issued on September 4, 2018, by the then-BJP government. In December, the Congress came to power. The work of acceptance and agreement was carried out under the Congress government. The payment for the idols was made in three phases. Payment for construction was done during the Congress government while payment for the establishment of idols was made by the BJP government that came after the fall of the Congress government.

Congress leaders have made different statements in the media regarding the cost of the idols. However, an NDTV report states that the work order proposed 100 idols at the cost of Rs 7,75,00,000 in the work order.

At the time of the unveiling of Mahakal Lok, the BJP and Congress vied with each other to take credit, and now when there are allegations of corruption in construction, both are accusing each other.

“Congress has always made allegations of corruption for the sake of opposition,” Sisodia said. “Earlier, Simhastha (Mahakumbh) was held in Ujjain. Even then similar allegations were made regarding the construction works. Later, when the Congress came to power, its own committee of three ministers (Jaivardhan Singh, Sajjan Singh Verma and PC Sharma) gave us a clean chit in the Simhastha scam. Now, they are making allegations about Mahakal Lok.”

Amid this blame game, no one’s responsibility has been fixed so far for the plight of Mahakal Lok. Meanwhile, officials claim that the situation arose due to the strong storm. Sisodia has also placed the blame entirely on the natural disaster.

“The destruction was caused by a natural calamity,” he explained. “Two buildings under construction have been demolished in Ujjain. More than 50 electric poles and towers have fallen. More than a hundred big trees have been uprooted. This natural disaster was severe. There was a whirlwind which caused the idols to crash. The idols of Saptarishis were located near a pond. The storm turned into a tornado over the empty space of the pond. When this tornado hit the idols, they toppled.”

The question is were these facts not considered at the time of the installation of idols? If so, it exposes a glaring flaw in the project.

The Mahakal Lok corridor was sealed for some time after the incident. But it was opened again soon.

Meanwhile, some media reports suggest that apart from the idols of Saptarishis, many other idols and structures have been damaged in the storm. In the past, a heavy stone dome also broke and fell on the ground. As the rainy season is approaching, there is an apprehension that a situation similar to May 28 may arise again with the possibility of causing physical injury to the devotees.

In this regard, K.K. Mishra said, “We are going to file a petition in the high court requesting that if a devotee dies due to an accident in the rain, chief minister Shivraj Singh should be charged with attempt to murder.”

“No step will be taken to ban Mahakal Lok in the rainy season,” said Sisodia. “Right now the work of one phase has been completed. Work is to be done in four phases. Currently, the work of the second phase is going on. The occurrence of such incidents at such a time will somewhere lead the construction work towards improvement.”

The Wire tried to reach Ujjain Collector Kumar Purushottam and Smart City CEO Ashish Pathak for comment several times in this regard but failed to get a response.

At the time of the inauguration of Mahakal Lok, Prime Minister Modi had compared it with the artistry and craft of many ancient temples of the country such as Konark’s Sun Temple, Madurai’s Meenakshi Temple, Ellora’s Kailash Temple, saying, “When generations witness this heritage and hear their message, it becomes the source of our continuity and immortality as a civilization. In Mahakal Lok, this tradition has been equally effectively engraved through art and craft.”

The ‘Mahakal Lok’, which the Prime Minister equated with hundreds of years old structures, collapsed within seven months. Clearly, it ought to become the subject of a high-level inquiry beyond the political blame game of the Congress and the BJP.

Translated from Hindi by Naushin Rehman. Read the Hindi original here.