KOLKATA: This Wednesday will be the first death anniversary of Amitabh Choudhary. It will also be the day that the Jhakhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) management committee are to discuss on the installing of a gold or marble statue and a gold-framed photo of the veteran cricket administrator at JSCA International Cricket Stadium.
While the JSCA administration gave its go-ahead to the work last week, its endeavours may have hit a roadblock. On Monday, the former JSCA president’s son, Abhishek Choudhary, sent a legal notice to the state cricket body calling upon them to immediately suspend all such plans of paying tribute that “tarnishes his memory and diminishes his legacy”.
“My family and I were distressed to learn by way of media reports that the current management of JSCA intends on installing a gold/marble statue of my father and (are planning) to announce the decision/lay the foundation on his first death anniversary,” Abhishek stated.
Choudhary’s family is disappointed in the manner of commemoration, with the 10-12ft statue reported to cost around Rs 1 crore and the 24-karat gold frame could add another Rs 50 lakh in expenditure. Added to that is the fact that JSCA did not even consider asking for the family’s consent for the initiative.
“My father would not have consented to be idolised in this manner, which ultimately commemorates the figure and persona, but runs contrary to his body of work and deeper values. He lived his entire life with simplicity. Personal aggrandisement and ostentation were anathema to him. The spending of crores of rupees to install such a statue would be a mockery of the ideals for which he made tremendous sacrifices,” he added in the statement.
“Further, the taking of such a decision without providing notice to his family, let alone obtaining their consent, constitutes an impingement on the family’s expression of private grief on the solemn occasion.”
While JSCA officials were not available for comment on the issue, TOI is in possession of the notice sent by Abhishek’s lawyer that reveals that the family’s wish for manner of commemoration had earlier been disregarded by JSCA.
They had presented the cricket body with the flag that had draped the late Choudhary’s mortal remains after the state funeral conferred upon him and had requested for it to be on display at the stadium whose establishment had been one of his biggest gifts to Jharkhand cricket.
“However, a few weeks later upon the family’s visit to the JSCA, the flag was found to have disfigured, such that its proportions had been mutilated and placed on the floor in a highly disrespectful manner,” it read.
With the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of JSCA scheduled for August 23, it remains to be seen what transpires at the management committee’s meeting on Wednesday.
