And they wish this statue to be in place by August 20 Rajiv Gandhi's 55th birthday. They have given notice to both Mumbai mayor Nandu Satam and Chief Minister Manohar Joshi. For almost a month there has been little response from either. And the BPYC plans to take to the streets in a couple of days if the Shiv Sena-led State government chooses a colonial icon over an Indian leader.

A minor controversy had erupted last month over a proposal to dust off the statue of Prince Edward astride his black horse (from whence Kalaghoda received its original name) and reinstall it near the Prince of Wales Museum where it stood before all colonial symbols were brought down with a flourish.

But, saysMaharashtra's Minister for Culture Pramod Navalkar, ``It was more for the black horse which is beautifully carved than for Prince Edward,'' that some loud thinking was done on the subject. On second thoughts, he says, there will be no statue at Kalaghoda at all. ``We have taken a decision to do away with all such installations on city squares because they impede the flow of traffic at the junctions. That is why even Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had to be put up inside gardens rather than on the roadside.''

BPYC president Charan Singh Sapra does not buy the argument. ``There are at least a dozen statues of relatively unrecognisable figures on footpaths and at traffic junctions in South Mumbai. I can list them for Mr Navalkar. Mumbai deserves a statue of Rajiv Gandhi in a prominent place not only because this is the city of his birth, but also because he donated Rs 100 crore for the city's development. And we mean business.''

So does Navalkar, it seems. As part of his beautification drive eventhe bus stops across the road at the museum are expected to be moved out of sight. ``We do not wish to create any further obstacles in this already congested area. We have tried moving several statues away from the roads and we do not mean to invite further trouble by allowing newer ones to come up,'' Navalkar said. Joining issues with him, Sapra challenges Navalkar to move the very visible statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar opposite the Institute of Science out of sight and into a garden.

But this is one area where even the redoubtable Culture Minister admits defeat. ``We have tried. But there have been furious protests from Dalits. And we do not want to create conditions for another conflagration. So we have decided that only Dr Ambedkar will be allowed status quo, all other impediments must go.'' Easier said than done, though. Sapra threatens similar protests in defence of Rajiv Gandhi. He has already sought permission from party president Sonia Gandhi to intensify the agitation against the state governmentin case it says `no'.

Senior leaders have joined in, with Indian Youth Congress president Manish Tiwari seeking permission to call on Chief Minister Manohar Joshi along with Brihanmumbai Regional Congress president Murli Deora and Rajiv Gandhi Foundation member Sunil Dutt. ``We will give the CM until the end of this week. It is our case that if this government can find prominent display spots for statues of Meenatai Thackeray (Sena chief Bal Thackeray's wife), then an Indian Prime Minister deserves better. We are not taking no for an answer,'' adds Sapra.ÿ