Some residents in Uttar Pradesh's capital, Lucknow, on Thursday stole a number of flower pots that were kept on the roads for an official event that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A video has gone viral showing residents carrying away the flower pots, reportedly hours after the Prime Minister inaugurated the Rashtra Prerna Sthal. While some residents were seen taking the pots on their two-wheelers, others were seen carrying them on foot.
An official from the horticulture department of the Lucknow Development Authority said that more than 4,000 flower pots were stolen.
Some people also took away the cutouts of PM Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The Prime Minister was in Lucknow to inaugurate the Rashtra Prerna Sthal on the 101st birth anniversary of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was accompanied by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who is the Member of Parliament from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, and Yogi Adityanath.
The Rashtra Prerna Sthal complex has been developed to honour the legacy of Vajpayee, a three-time prime minister who was elected Lucknow's Lok Sabha MP for five consecutive terms -- in 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004.
Constructed at a cost of Rs 230 crore and spread across an expansive area of 65 acres, the Rashtra Prerna Sthal complex is envisioned as a permanent national asset dedicated to fostering leadership values, national service, cultural consciousness, and public inspiration.
It also features 65-foot-high bronze statues of BJP ideologues Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, alongside Vajpayee.
A state-of-the-art museum, designed in a lotus-shaped structure and spread over 98,000 square feet, allows visitors to explore the contributions of these leaders to nation-building.
Vajpayee, a Bharat Ratna awardee, first became the prime minister for 13 days in May 1996, then had a 13-month term in 1998-1999, before becoming the first non-Congress leader to complete a full five-year term (1999-2004).
He died at the age of 93 in 2018.
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