Queen Victoria's statue, Cubbon park, Bangalore - Is it a symbol of British imperialism or India's humiliation?

Queen Victoria's statue,  Cubbon park, Bangalore. commons Wikipedia org

Queen Victoria's  statue, Bangalore deccanherald.com

Unveiled on 5 February 1906 by the then Prince of Wales, George Frederick Ernest Albert (who later became King George V) the standing marble statue of Queen Victoria' at Queen's Park, next to Cubbon Park, Bangalore Cantonment, is one of the few statues of her left in a public place at the same location the  rest are languishing in the museum across the world.  Upon the death of her husband Prince Albert in 1861 she took over the reigns of Britain. The 11-ft statue on a 13-ft pedestal was made by sculptor Thomas Brock and shipped to India in 1905. The statue on February this year turned 117 years, standing in the same place despite protests by some groups. The sceptre came loose and the gold inlay in the letters was stolen by vandals,” The cross on the Orb is not yet fixed.It was damaged long ago. 

The statue was made possible through contributions from public. Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore made a solid contribution. Queen Victoria made a proclamation about the transfer of administration of the subcontinent from the corrupt EIC to the Crown's direct administration in 1858 which  was read out by Viceroy Charles Canning in Allahabad, United Provinces. Only  in 1877, the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, proclaimed she was the Empress of India and  same  announcement was made by Viceroy of India, Lord Lytton on 1 January 1877 at the Delhi Durbar.

This Statue of Queen Victoria in Bangalore  is one of the five of the original 50 statues of Queen Victoria which were installed in British India in memory of her after her death in 1901. Then she was the longest female monarch in the world to have ruled a country for such a long time.

The Horticulture Department of Karnataka state was  keen to restore the pretty old statues of  the Mysore ruler and Queen Victoria and sought help of the Archaeology department and others in this regard less than a decade ago . Thee  was no opposition to restore the statue of Chamaraja Wadiyar IV, a section of people  however,wanted the statue of Victoria removed from the public place. Across many places Indians do not want to see the statues of British royals or those colonial officers who were against Indian interests. The group also wanted the statues of Lord Cubbon and King Edward VII removed and taken to the museum.  The statue of Cubbon' on the horseback was removed from Karnataka Court premises in the recent past. The vestiges of colonialism  in public places are something like rubbing the bleeding wound with salt. My father's friend, a staunch patriot, used to tell him, seeing the porcelain dolls on the Navaratri Goli padis..

https://www.deccanherald.com/city/top-bengaluru-stories/victoria-statue-at-cubbon-park-turns-117-on-february-5-1187996.html

https://www.navrangindia.in/2022/07/pudukkottais-victorian-silver-jubilee.html