New Delhi
As India readies for an engineering marvel 182-metre tall “Statue of Unity” after various environmental and political controversies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said it would be a proud moment for everyone to see “a true son of the soil Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel adorn our skies”.

Crediting Patel with uniting a “fragmented” India after Partition, he said it was his timely intervention that helped save Jammu and Kashmir from “aggression”.
In his monthly radio programme “Mann ki Baat”, Modi urged the youth to participate in large numbers in the “run for unity” on Patel’s birth anniversary October 31. “If we are able to see a united India now, it was entirely on account of the sagacity and strategic wisdom of Sardar Patel. The Statue of Unity will be a true tribute to him,” he said.

Located on the banks of the Narmada in Gujarat, it is built at a cost of over Rs 2,300 crore and will be dedicated to the nation on Wednesday. Modi hoped the statue would become a new tourist destination. The BJP is all set to make it a grand event with Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani sending invites to all Chief Ministers.

The statue has been built on a river island “Sadhu Bet” with a 250-metre long bridge providing it the connectivity. Its construction faced criticism from several quarters, including environmentalists, locals and politicians.

Besides the cost, the statue was criticism over bronze panels being cast at a foundry in China and Chinese workers on the site. The Congress accused the BJP of playing politics over Sardar. When money was allocated for the statue in the Budget, the Opposition also accused the government of ignoring priorities like farmers’ distress, women safety, education etc.

There were reports of locals opposing land acquisition for tourism infrastructure development around the statue.

For the BJP, the built-up is its way of undoing the injustice to Sardar Patel by the Nehru-Gandhi family, one of the founding fathers of the Republic, and is now a part of its ongoing political narrative.

Quoting late Field Marshal SHF J Manekshaw, he said Patel was “irked” at the delay in initiating military action to evict the aggressors. In an interview, Manekshaw had recalled that as a Colonel then he was part of a meeting where Patel was irked on the delay in sending troops to Kashmir, he said.