World's tallest statue: Sardar Patel's Statue of Unity at a glance The Time magazine in 1947 called him 'The Boss' who unified over 562 disparate princely states. Many had hailed him as India's Bismarck. The visage of the country's first deputy PM, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel , who was fondly called the 'Iron man of India,' now stands clad in bronze in the shape of the world's tallest statue (182 metres, twice the height of the Statue of Liberty) built at a project cost of Rs 2,979 crore on Sadhu Beyt.The breathtaking Statue Of Unity is set against the glistening basalt rocks of the Vindhya and Satpura hills of the Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary. The statue, befitting Sardar's stature, is set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 31, Sardar's birth anniversary, with BJP setting the ball rolling for its 2019 Lok Sabha poll campaigns.In 2010, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was the chief minister of Gujarat he had revealed his plans for building the Statue of Unity. Modi had said then, "It is a tribute to the great man who united India. The state government and my party (BJP) have decided to build the world's tallest statue dedicated to Sardar Patel. "BJP's massive campaign went on to associate Modi with Sardar's political style, and his emphasis on 'good governance'. Right from the Gaurav Yatra days of 2002, Modi would often be referred to as 'Chhote Sardar'.Initially, the Statue of Unity was planned to mark Modi's decade-long stint as Gujarat chief minister in the run-up to the 2012 state elections. But soon, Sardar's statue extrapolated to becoming the uniting point for BJP's 2014 Lok Sabha poll campaigning, when large rallies and marathons like the 'Run for Unity' were organized by the BJP.The Statue of Unity is ambitious both in its scale and its design. The soaring structure will be complemented by an integrated complex housing a hotel, a memorial garden and a visitor centre, 3.5km away from the Sardar Sarovar Dam. It required complicated engineering, and a composite reinforcement to support the huge structure on a rocky outcrop in the middle of the Narmada river bed.The project website says that nearly 3 lakh soil samples were collected, along with 700 tonnes of iron in the form of donated farm equipment from across the country. And now the Statue of Unity's completion will serve as the bugle for the BJP machinery to mobilize the masses with the message of national unity, and prime them for 2019.Political science expert Dinesh Shukla says, "Modi used the Statue of Unity to rally support for his 2014 Lok Sabha campaign, and on the project's completion, he will try to use it to mobilize masses for 2019." He adds, "The statue may help the BJP to an extent when it comes to Lok Sabha seats of Gujarat."<doc-sep>Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the statue of Vallabhbhai Patel, famously known as Sardar Patel, the first deputy Prime Minister of India today. The statue is situated at Gujarat’s Sadhu Bet island on Narmada River and is touted as the tallest statue in the world. The statue of ‘Iron Man of India’ is also called ‘Statue of Unity’ and it is 182-metre tall. The statue is being built at a cost of Rs 2,389 crore.<doc-sep>On October 31, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Statue of Unity, a 597-foot (182-metre) statue of Sardar Patel at Sadhu Bet, a river island near the controversial Sardar Sarovar mega-dam. Twice the height of the Statue of Liberty, this will be the tallest statue in the world – that is, until it is eclipsed in a few years by a proposed 695 feet (212 metre) Shivaji statue off the coast of Mumbai. Currently, the tallest statue is the 420-ft Spring Temple Buddha in Henan, China, completed in 2008. Most of the world’s largest statues are in China, India, Japan and Taiwan. If Lady Liberty, donated by France as a shared symbol of Enlightenment, soon became a symbol of the US as a centre of global power, these Asian nations can be seen as using the same idiom to claim their moment in the sun. But given that the international response – if any – to such assertions is mostly one of distaste and bemusement, perhaps the Indian monumental statues’ claims to globality are best understood as ultimately addressed inwards, mediating local politics at various scales. While statues and large monuments are ancient and almost universal forms, their current resurgence in India links up with specific recent developments: the politics of caste, a post-liberalisation revival of religious patronage and the reconfiguration of the nation as an economic unit by the forces of neoliberal “free trade”. Big Sardar, little sardar The Statue of Unity is commonly seen as the BJP’s attempt to insert itself into the freedom movement and its legacy by appropriating Patel as a counterpoint to Nehru. However, Modi initiated the project in 2010 not as a national initiative but to celebrate a decade as chief minister of Gujarat (albeit with an eye on the Centre), so its initial impetus was more likely to find an alternative symbol to that other son of Gujarati soil, Gandhi. Sardar Patel, the lauh purush or Iron Man, known as India’s Bismarck, provided a far more fitting genealogy for Modi’s muscular political style than the frail, skinny, peace-loving Gandhi. Indeed, Gujaratis hailing the project as putting the state on the global map were quick to label Modi “Chhote Sardar”. These competing masculinities accompany radically contrasting models of statecraft, for the project’s early publicity associated Patel with “good governance,” a term propagated by the IMF and the World Bank, vernacularised as suraaj: similar-sounding to Gandhi’s swaraj or self-rule but quite different in its orientation to a globalised economy. Part of the agenda of World Bank-style good governance is decentralisation or fiscal devolution, which accounts for the re-orientation of emphasis to subnational units such as cities and states – hence the increased importance of chief ministers and their initiatives to lure investment to their states. Also read: Why the BJP Feels It Has to Appropriate Sardar Patel It was not until 2014 that the project was scaled up to the national level. The BJP’s 2014 election campaign included a ‘Statue of Unity’ movement with a nationwide drive to collect iron farming implements to be melted down for use in the statue, a ‘Run for Unity’ marathon and a ‘Suraaj’ petition for people to offer ideas for “good governance.” These efforts were not as successful as was hoped. Several states barely contributed to the drive for tools, and the iron collected was too low-grade for the statue and was therefore used “elsewhere in the project.” Nevertheless, the campaign – and Modi’s electoral success – resignified the statue as a nationalist initiative that would put India, not just Gujarat, on the global map, and justified its use of central funds. As the inauguration approaches, doubtless the critiques that have dogged this project since 2014 will intensify. Rahul Gandhi recently castigated the statue as “made in China,” for the bronze plates cladding the statue were manufactured not in one of India’s 4,600 foundries employing half a million people, but by China’s Jiangxi Tongqing Metal Handicrafts – several hundred Chinese workers are currently on site. The media had already pounced on the contradiction between this and Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, just as they did on the revelation that Indian public sector oil companies were being directed to channel their mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility funds to the statue. Ironically, this was justified on the grounds that it would bring development to a “tribal” area – even though the Sardar Sarovar dam had displaced at least 25,000 Adivasi families and issues with their resettlement led the World Bank to pull its funding from that project. Adding insult to injury, a “tribal museum” is to be included in the statue complex, literally cementing actual Adivasi people’s alienation from the land and obviating their continued existence in the present. But the most common complaint against the statue is that its nearly Rs 3,000 crores ($430 million) worth of funding could be used to help those in need more directly. Also read: Narendra Modi’s ‘Gift’ to the Nation Is Set to Submerge Lakhs of People Statue wars Of course, this is not the only monument building project to be criticised on these grounds. The sculptor of the Sardar Patel statue, Ram Sutar, was also responsible for the statues in Mayawati’s massive “Dalit Memorial” programme in her stints as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh between 1995 and 2012. Unlike the Statue of Unity, however, this came under vociferous attack from the Right and Left alike. Despite the notoriety of those projects, indeed, likely because that notoriety contributed to their effectiveness, statues became a major political tool in the 2000s as prominent ministers seized on this form to curry favour with their vote banks. These “statue wars” intensified in the run-up to the 2014 elections, where the Statue of Unity was by no means the only game in town, even if it was the biggest.<doc-sep>It is also well known that the Congress had little time for the Sardar's legacy till Modi tried to don it. But the Congress' attempt to rediscover the Sardar's legacy and claim exclusive rights over it is also no less tawdry. Even when LK Advani tried it was not taken seriously. But like the Sardar, Modi too is a Gujarati and that has a certain resonance in that state. We know how strongly Modi feels about the Gujarati identity. His unwillingness to insure the Asiatic lion against extinction by translocating a few prides emanates from this. It is well known that there were serious differences between Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel. It was less a clash of personalities as it was a clash of ideologies. The Sardar espoused a more robust and practical nationalism, and laissez faire economic policies. Nehru wanted to dismantle the colonial bureaucratic system but Patel wanted to retain the centralized civil service structure, the price for which we are still paying. Nehru was more internationalist, more leftist than realist, and preferred central planning to free market policies. Their policy inclinations were as different as chalk and cheese. But both were patriots tempered by the nationalist movement and both were popular leaders of the Congress rank and file, and the nation as a whole. Above all both were thorough gentlemen and whatever their differences never disrespected each other and subverted each other with factional intrigue. They preferred a moderation in language that would now been seen as a sign of weakness. They preferred to conciliate rather than divide. It is also well known that after the death of Sardar Patel, something akin to a purge took place in the Congress and the Congress leaders who preferred to support the policies and politics espoused by the Sardar were shown their place or shown the door. The party donned socialist colours and its transformation was complete. With this physical purge, the intellectual purge of the Congress also gathered pace, and Sardar Patel was practically airbrushed out of the Congress pantheon. For all practical purposes Sardar Patel became anathema for the Congress, particularly after the advent of Indira Gandhi. It’s another matter that after its ideological peregrinations for half a century, the Congress returned to the very same laissez faire economics favoured by Patel and rejected by Nehru. Congress leaders, who now claim to be legatees of Sardar Patel, would hardly know of him and what he stood for. For a start their language is different. Those days they belonged to a very different school of politics. Politics was about policies and grand ideas. To qualify in politics nowadays, one has to be a graduate of the school for scoundrels, where sycophancy and personality worship are the main attainments needed. Sardar Patel had a thriving law practice he abandoned to heed the Mahatma's call, Jawaharlal Nehru was a superbly educated and highly evolved personality, and politics to him was a calling not an occupation. Neither Modi nor Rahul Gandhi has much in them to claim such legacies. They are symptomatic of the sad days that have befallen the nation midwifed and contemplated by Nehru and Patel. --- *Well-known policy analyst. Source: Author's Facebook timeline Patel himself conceded this at a massively attended Congress rally in Mumbai, when he told the celebrated American author and journalist Vincent Sheean, “They come for Jawahar, not for me." Patel’s realism was the hallmark of his politics and that made him the perfect foil to Nehru’s idealism.It is also well known that the Congress had little time for the Sardar's legacy till Modi tried to don it. But the Congress' attempt to rediscover the Sardar's legacy and claim exclusive rights over it is also no less tawdry. Even when LK Advani tried it was not taken seriously.But like the Sardar, Modi too is a Gujarati and that has a certain resonance in that state. We know how strongly Modi feels about the Gujarati identity. His unwillingness to insure the Asiatic lion against extinction by translocating a few prides emanates from this.It is well known that there were serious differences between Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel. It was less a clash of personalities as it was a clash of ideologies. The Sardar espoused a more robust and practical nationalism, and laissez faire economic policies. Nehru wanted to dismantle the colonial bureaucratic system but Patel wanted to retain the centralized civil service structure, the price for which we are still paying.Nehru was more internationalist, more leftist than realist, and preferred central planning to free market policies. Their policy inclinations were as different as chalk and cheese. But both were patriots tempered by the nationalist movement and both were popular leaders of the Congress rank and file, and the nation as a whole.Above all both were thorough gentlemen and whatever their differences never disrespected each other and subverted each other with factional intrigue. They preferred a moderation in language that would now been seen as a sign of weakness. They preferred to conciliate rather than divide.It is also well known that after the death of Sardar Patel, something akin to a purge took place in the Congress and the Congress leaders who preferred to support the policies and politics espoused by the Sardar were shown their place or shown the door. The party donned socialist colours and its transformation was complete.With this physical purge, the intellectual purge of the Congress also gathered pace, and Sardar Patel was practically airbrushed out of the Congress pantheon. For all practical purposes Sardar Patel became anathema for the Congress, particularly after the advent of Indira Gandhi. It’s another matter that after its ideological peregrinations for half a century, the Congress returned to the very same laissez faire economics favoured by Patel and rejected by Nehru.Congress leaders, who now claim to be legatees of Sardar Patel, would hardly know of him and what he stood for. For a start their language is different. Those days they belonged to a very different school of politics. Politics was about policies and grand ideas.<doc-sep>
The homage to Sardar Patel has far deeper symbolism. Highlights PM to inaugurate giant statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on Wednesday Will be world's tallest statue, 4 times taller than the Statue of Liberty Homage to Patel has deep symbolism, say commentators It is four times taller than the Statue of Liberty. So big, in fact, that it will give India bragging rights to the world's tallest statue - a nearly 600-foot creation that says as much about India's global aspirations as it does about the political ego of its leader. It may seem like a natural choice for an outsize tribute. India's new Statue of Unity, to be formally unveiled Wednesday, depicts Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, an independence-era leader credited with uniting the fledgling nation in the 1940s when he served as India's first home minister. But the homage to Patel has far deeper symbolism. Patel, known as India's "Iron Man," has become a right-wing icon for Hindu nationalists. And the statue's location, in the western state of Gujarat, has been the site of some of the fiercest clashes between Hindus and Muslims in past decades. The $408 million gold-colored colossus also spills over into present-day politics. It is seen as a trifecta for Prime Minister Narendra Modi: a nod to his Hindu political base, a landmark site in his home state, and a showcase of the nation's growing prosperity and status as a rising global power. "This memorial to Sardar [Patel] is going to become a worldwide tourist attraction," boasted PM Modi in a promotional video in Hindi about the statue. "See our height, measure this nation's height. This is what we want." Hindol Sengupta, author of a Patel biography, said projects such as the statue are PM Modi's way of trumpeting India's ascent. "When Modi says he wants India to take its rightful place as "vishwa guru," or world teacher, he actually means it . . . in Modi's worldview this statue is a crucial part of the signaling of the rise of India and the presenting before the world that rise in visual terms." It will stand at 597 feet, or 177 feet higher than the current world's tallest statue, China's Spring Temple Buddha in the central Henan province. Ironically, the bronze cladding for the Patel statue was shipped from China because Indian foundries lack the expertise and equipment to go this big. The statue is being assembled by around 4,000 laborers working around the clock. The golden statue depicts Patel, wearing a traditional Indian dhoti wrap around his legs and a shawl, towering over the Narmada River. In 2013, ahead of the previous general election, PM Modi sent trucks all over India to collect scrap metal for the structure. According to the statue's makers, the metal was melted and used to create the structure's base - a symbolic act to represent the nation. A museum and audiovisual gallery underneath the statue will showcase Patel's life story and his contributions to India's independence struggle. Wednesday's unveiling also is viewed as the unofficial launch of PM Modi's campaign for re-election next year. He already has another giant statue of a warrior king in the state of Maharashtra, set to be ready by 2021. Some critics cringe at the images intended to project wealth and power. Art historian Shukla Sawant called it "paternalistic" public art. "It's the size matters, kind of a nonsensical, idea of power," said Sawant, a professor of visual studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. Still, PM Modi seems to relish the big-splash attention of the projects. "If Sardar Patel had become the prime minister, today a part of our beloved Kashmir would not have been under Pakistani occupation," PM Modi said to Parliament in February. The statement was a dig at India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, whose vision for a secular, multifaith India clashes with the pro-Hindu politics of PM Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP. The Statue of Unity is a near-replica of a Patel statue at an airport in the nearby Gujarat city of Ahmedabad. "Vallabhbhai Patel, through the sheer act of unifying the modern nation state of India, is more Lincolnesque than most people realize," said Anil Ram Sutar, son of the nonagenarian sculptor who designed the new statue. "So this is Modi's Lincoln memorial."