Munro, Thomas

Actually, the statue of Thomas Munro in Chennai is the only one from the British Raj that remains in situ. This may have to do with the fact that Munro was one of the most popular British administrators in South India. However, during the ninth World Tamil Conference held in 2010, there were demands for the statue to be removed, evoking strong protests from conservationists:

Rather than removing Munro, the state administration could think of translating his statements into Tamil and placing them around his statue. Successive generations can then know of the requisites of good administration and also realize that not all colonial masters were evil. Though the government had arrived at a decision to remove the statue, called ‘The stirrup majesty’ as the statue shows him without saddle and stirrup, the decision has not yet been implemented.

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