PM Modi dedicates Sardar Patel's 'Statue of Unity' to nation
KEVADIYa (Gujarat): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated an imposing 182-metre statue of Sardar Vallabhai Patel, the world's tallest, and said it will serve as a reminder about his courage to thwart conspiracy to disintegrate India.
He used the occasion to slam those criticising the decision to build the monument, questioning whether any crime had been committed by constructing such memorials for national heroes like Patel.
The imposing monument, named as the 'Statue of Unity' and built on an islet Sadhu Bet near
Sardar Sarovar Dam
in Gujarat's
Narmada district
, is twice the height of the Statue of Liberty in the US.
The monument was conceptualised by Modi during his tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister and he had laid the foundation stone for it in 2013.
Patel, the first Home Minister of Independent India, is credited with merging 500 princely states into the Union of India. He had used force to annex princely states of Junagadh ruled by Nawab and Hyderabad ruled by nizam, both of whom had wished not to merge their states with the India union.
The ceremony, which coincided with the 143rd birth anniversary of Patel, also known as the 'Iron man of India, was attended by Gujarat Governor O P Kohli, Chief Minister
and BJP chief Amit Shah besides a number of other leaders hailing from Gujarat.
"The world's tallest statue would remind the entire world, the future generations about the courage, capabilities and resolution of the person who did this holy work of thwarting the conspiracy to disintegrate Mother India into pieces," the prime minister said addressing a gathering after inaugurating the monument.
"The statue will remind those who question India's existence, that this nation was, is and will remain eternal," Modi said.
"This (statue) is a source of unity...with this sentiment we should march...and march with a dream to make the country 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat' (One India, Superior India)," he added.
Modi said his government has taken up the cause of bringing to life the history and contributions of great personalities.
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