VIJAYAWADA: The removal of the Buddhist paintings from the Vijayawada International Airport, has been severely criticised. This was executed by the district collector Mr Babu A, on the instructions of the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu. In February 2016, at the time of the inauguration of the airport the arrival of the Dalai Lama, as part of his visit to Amaravati, had seen the Buddhist paintings along with those on the Andhra culture and hailed the state government.
Interestingly, all these paintings were removed from the terminals of the airport, stating that the space had been allotted for commercial publicity. “There is no specific reason to remove the Buddhist paintings,” airport director Mr Madhusudana Rao has stated and added that they want to sell the space for commercials. The interiors of an airport generally reflects areas of interest and importance in the locality and accordingly Vijayawada airport during its re-launch, had displayed the Buddhist paintings.
But, the reason behind the removal of these paintings is that the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airports Authority of India (AAI) have received RTI applications seeking the information related to as to why only Buddhist culture was given more importance, ignoring the famous Hindu shrines, Sree Kanaka Durga temple located in Indra Keeladri, and Sree Amara Lingeswara Swamy temple, located in Original Amaravati.
Instead of replying to the RTI applicants, the AAI reportedly gave directions to the authorities at Vijayawada, to remove the paintings, which has led to the big controversy. Speaking about this, Buddhist scholar Mr Kathi Padma Rao has lambasted that the government for allowing such hurried removal of the Buddhist paintings. “The CM should maintain his equilibrium, by allowing the paintings portraying the Buddhist and Andhra cultural synchronization,” he said and added that it was only because of the Buddhism connect that Amaravati had attained significance across the globe.
