Speaking at a function after unveiling the bronze statue of Jijabai and Bal Shivaji at the Jijamata Udyan, Byculla, Thackeray reiterated the Shiv Sena-BJP government's promise to rename Sahar airport after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the Santacruz airport after J R D Tata, and criticised the ``Congress policy of naming everything under the sun after members of the Gandhi dynasty.''

The Sena chief also pronounced himself ``slightly unhappy'' with the way the statues had been made. ``I noticed certain faults when I saw photographs of the statue in newspapers. So I came to the zoo yesterday and marked all the faults with a pencil. I have asked the sculptor Vitthal Shanbaug to make the requisite changes,'' he said.

At the same time, Thackeray pointed outthat people didn't take inspiration from statues. ``Inspiration comes when you read history and study the lives of great men and women,'' he added.

Lamenting the decline in ethical values, Thackeray said the young generation was ``mindlessly aping the West'' and ``Indian samskar was fast being replaced by ``Pepsi and Coca Cola culture.'' Television too, due to advertising for consumer products, was spoiling the youth instead of spreading information and education, he added.

Municipal Commissioner Girish Gokhale said although the Byculla Zoo had been renamed as Veermata Jijabai Bhosle Udyan, there was still something lacking.

``After the installation of Jijamata's statue, the gap has been filled,'' he said. The BMC had passed a resolution in 1992 on the statue's installation.

Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.