DUSHANBE, November 20, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan’s Communist Party (CPT) has not yet received an official reply from the government to its request for relocating the Lenin monument from the Dushanbe Central Park to the place in font of the building, which houses the CPT head office.      

As it had been reported earlier, Tajik Communists on November 7 sent a letter to President Emomali Rahmon asking for permission to relocate the Lenin monument, which is currently stands in the Dushanbe Central Park, to the place in front of the building housing the Communist Party (CPT) head office.

Ismoil Talbakov, the deputy head of the CPT,said in an interview with Asia-Plus that the party is ready to fund the relocation work itself.  

The Dushanbe mayor’s office has announced a tender for reconstruction of the Dushanbe Central Park, which is scheduled to be finished next year, and memorial complex to the founder of Tajik-Persian classic literature Abdu Abdullo Rudaki will be installed there.        

Shavkat Saidov, a spokesman for the capital mayor, said that the results of the tender will be known today evening and the date of dismantling the Lenin monument in the central Park will be fixed within the next few days.  

Shokirjon Hakimov, one of leaders of the Social-Democratic Party (SDPT), has positively assessed initiative of Tajik Communists.  “Personality of Vladimir Lenin and everything that is connected with this name deserves respect and special attention because it is art of our history,” the SDPT deputy leader said in an interview with Asia-Pplus.    

Meanwhile, Hikmatullo Sayfullozoda, a spokesman for the Islamic Revival Party (IRPT) noted, “As a matter of principle, the CPT has the right to make such a request.  However, the monument should be placed in museum or in other place, but not on the streets of the city.”  “Lenin is our past, and it should not be forgotten that during the Soviet time, Tajik statehood, language and culture were nearly eliminated completely,” the IRPT spokesman said.