In a controversial decision, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has asked the artists not to highlight “Hindu idols” in the Chola-era paintings being painted on the walls of subways in the city, reports Times of India.
According to the reports, the Chola-era paintings was to be painted on the walls of RBI Subway, Rajaji Salai, as part of the “Singara Chennai 2.0” project. However, the GCC has now decided to make changes to its plan. They have asked the artists not to highlight “Hindu idols” to avoid controversy. As per the reports, about 20% of the artwork has been completed.
The artists working on the project have alleged that some groups put pressure on the GCC to not go ahead with the paintings of Hindu symbols. But, the civic body has denied such external pressure.
“No groups have opposed it. Some aspects of the paintings were not approved by Greater Chennai Corporation. So, we asked the contractor to rectify it. It is purely internal, and there is no external pressure,” MS Prashanth, the Deputy Commissioner of GCC, was quoted saying in the report.
Interestingly, on February 7, the Greater Chennai Corporation had tweeted pictures of the artwork, in which paintings of Hindu deities can be seen.
Hey Chennai!
— Greater Chennai Corporation (@chennaicorp) February 2, 2022
Pictures of ongoing painting work on the walls of RBI Subway👇#GCC officials CE Bridges, Thiru S Kalimuthu, and SE Bridges, Thiru @bvenkateshbabu, with the team, inspected the works today. pic.twitter.com/NTKAVwfUmx
Contractor JPK Vijay said he did not get preliminary approval on the design. He said that the idea was to recreate Chola-era paintings as public art.
“They (officials) today asked us to modify the idols. I explained the theme undertaken and told them that paintings from other religious beliefs would also be included. We will be modifying some of the already done work,” he told TOI.
Contractor Vijay said his works focused on Tamil culture, and his recent projects for the civic body were also widely appreciated. A group of about 15 artists from across the state are part of the project.
An artist, who is working on the project, said that there is no need to modify the artworks as they depicted Tamil culture and heritage and not any religion.
