After being in the eye of controversy over the past three days over the idol row, Bengaluru University administration decided to place the Buddha statue next to that of the new Saraswathi Idol which will be installed soon, at the entrance of the administrative block of the Institute on Wednesday.
The Buddha statue will be taken down from the pedestal constructed for Saraswathi idol, and both of them will be installed simultaneously once a pedestal for Buddha is created, decided the subcommittee.
With heavy police deployment and cordoning off of the area around the idol, protests by rival factions, one wanting the Buddha idol and the other Saraswathi, did not take place.
A subcommittee which was supposed to find a right place for the Buddha statue, had convened a meeting on Wednesday morning under the leadership of the vice chancellor of Bangalore University, Venugopal KR. In it, they decided to install the Buddha statue next to that of the Saraswathi Idol in a respectable manner.
The pedestal worth (Rs four lakhs) that was created for the installation of the new Saraswathi idol will be fitted with the planned idol. Parallel to that, a pedestal for the Buddha statue will be created.
A unanimous decision was made to consult experts about the impact of the building. Civil engineers took into consideration the weight of both the idols.
For the time being, the Buddha statue will be kept aside in a safe place, while the pedestal is being constructed. The administrators appealed to the students, faculty members and the non teaching staff to maintain a peaceful atmosphere and render their support as the decision reaches fruition.
