New Delhi
\nAs India readies for an engineering marvel 182-metre tall \u201cStatue of Unity\u201d after various environmental and political controversies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said it would be a proud moment for everyone to see \u201ca true son of the soil Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel adorn our skies\u201d.<\/p>\n
Crediting Patel with uniting a \u201cfragmented\u201d India after Partition, he said it was his timely intervention that helped save Jammu and Kashmir from \u201caggression\u201d.
\nIn his monthly radio programme \u201cMann ki Baat\u201d, Modi urged the youth to participate in large numbers in the \u201crun for unity\u201d on Patel\u2019s birth anniversary October 31. \u201cIf 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The statue has been built on a river island \u201cSadhu Bet\u201d with a 250-metre long bridge providing it the connectivity. Its construction faced criticism from several quarters, including environmentalists, locals and politicians.<\/p>\n
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\u2019 distress, women safety, education etc.<\/p>\n
There were reports of locals opposing land acquisition for tourism infrastructure development around the statue.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Quoting late Field Marshal SHF J Manekshaw, he said Patel was \u201cirked\u201d 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi As India readies for an engineering marvel 182-metre tall \u201cStatue of Unity\u201d after various environmental and political controversies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said it would be a proud moment for everyone to see \u201ca true son of the soil Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel adorn our skies\u201d. Crediting Patel with uniting a \u201cfragmented\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[312,315],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45764,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45762\/revisions\/45764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}