KHUJAND, April 22, 2011, Asia-Plus — Communists in Sughd province will not be able to lay flowers to the Lenin statue in Khujand today on the occasion of the 141st birthday of the Bolshevik revolutionary leader as reconstruction work is currently being carried out around the monument.
The head of the Communist Party’s organization in Sughd, Ghufronjon Rustamov, told Asia-Plus today they plan to lay flowers to the monument to those who died for establishment of Soviet rule in Khujand.
In the afternoon, a ceremonial meeting dedicated to the 141st birthday of Vladimir Lenin will take place at the Library named after Assiri.
Rustamov noted that Communists in Zafarobod had laid flowers to the Lenin statue in the district. According to him, the statues of the leader of the world proletariat are still located in all cities and districts of the province except Ayni and Kuhistoni Mastchoh districts. “Unknown persons removed a small monument to Lenin from the center of Ayni district,” Rustamov said.
In the meantime, the Lenin statute in Khujand is still on its place. The statue on the right bank of the Syrdarya River, which is believed to be the highest monument to the Bolshevik revolutionary leader in central Asia, was built in 1974. A 12.5-meter pedestal was constructed from black gabbro and the statue at the same height was constructed from stainless steel. The statue was constructed by sculptor N. Schcherbakov and architects V. Veselovsky and I. Gunst.
Meanwhile, the fountains surrounding the statue have practically been dismantled and work on constructing a new site – for the Ismoili Somoni statue – is being carried out in full gear.
The date of dismantlement of the Lenin statue itself is still unknown. Local authorities say the Lenin statue to be transferred to Victory Park on the bank of the Syrdarya River, where pedestal is being built for the statue.
In Soviet times Khujand was called Leninabad and Sughd was called Leninabad province. After a referendum in 1990 Khujand reverted to its historic name; Sughd followed suit in 2001.
