Allama Iqbal OR Uncle Sargam? New Statue Of National Poet At Lahore Park Looks Nothing Like Him

allama iqbal sculpture in lahore

Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the late national poet of Pakistan who died in 1938, is known for his influential efforts to direct his fellow Muslims in British-administered India toward the establishment of a separate Muslim state, an aspiration that was eventually realized in the country of Pakistan. Recently, a new statue of him has been placed at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore. The odd artistic work has now become the talk of the town and a laughing stock.

The new statue of Iqbal placed in Lahore has drawn many people’s attention for all the wrong reasons. Recently, someone spotted the newly installed sculpture and examined how the artist had taken the liberty with the subject by making the sculpture such that it does not appear to remotely resemble the man himself. More like an epic fail!

The tweet is drawing humor and derision from netizens. It went viral in a span of a few hours. The Twitterati seems to be barraging the provincial authorities with the demand to replace it as soon as possible. We could not agree any more!

In addition to this, the hashtag of Allama Iqbal has become a trend on Twitter. The users seem unhappy with sculpture as they criticize the makers of it. While some are criticizing the artwork, others are just making fun of it. Let’s check out the reactions this sculpture has garnered.

Here are a few hilarious ones…

And the savage trolling award goes to… this one!

A couple of serious ones (some people are quite offended)

The confusion is real

“The Lahore Park administration has clarified that this statue of Allama Iqbal was made by the gardeners in line with each other’s help. I wish they could have made a statue of Usman Bazdar. Why did they have to experiment on Allama Iqbal?” wrote a Twitter user.

It must be noted that this is not the first time that PTI has come under fire for such a weird act related to a national figure. Back in 2017,  the PTI leaders received backlash when they cut a cake with a bizarre picture of Quaid-e-Azam on it.

Well, the odd-looking sculpture of Iqbal is definitely evoking a lot of attention. Nonetheless, it turns out that it has been made in good faith by well-meaning people.

According to a local media report, the statue was not the creation of a professional artist but an amateur tribute by the park’s gardeners to the national poet. It had been unveiled on the 73rd Independence Day at Lahore’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park.

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