by India’s Statue of Unity is constructed in the memory of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel who was the first Home Minister of Independent India and his uncompromising efforts towards integration of the country earned him the title ‘Iron Man of India’.
Statue Of Unity
Early Life
Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel was one of the significant social and political heads of India. He assumed a significant part in India’s struggle for Autonomy. He is believed to be born on 31 October 1875 at Nadiad, Gujarat and was frequently tended to as Sardar.
He did his matriculation at 22 years old. He was by all accounts a common individual to everybody around him, yet had solid self control. He wanted to become an advodate. At 36 years old, he went to England to satisfy his fantasy and joined Middle Temple Inn. He finished his three year course in only 30 months. In the wake of getting back to India he got quite possibly the best advodates of Ahmedabad.
Early Political Career
In September 1917, Patel conveyed a urging discourse in Borsad to persuade Indians to sign Gandhi’s petition demanding Swaraj.
Patel additionally rose against the constrained subjugation of Indians to Europeans. He organised relief efforts at the time of plague and famine in the Kheda district.
Vallabhbhai Patel started a village-to-village tour to involve maximum people in the statewide revolt to refuse the payment of taxes.
Patel supported Gandhi’s Non-cooperation Movement and toured the state to recruit more than 300,000 members and raise over Rs. 15 lakh in funds.
Satyagraha was led by Patel in Nagpur in the absence of Gandhi in 1923 against a law that restricted the hoisting of the Indian flag.
Integration after Independence
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was a senior leader of Indian National Congress and a prominent figure in the Indian Freedom Struggle, who later became India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and first Home Minister.
Sardar Patel’s contribution in integrating 565 princely states into a newly independent India is unforgettable.
In the 1946 political race for the Congress administration, Patel stepped down for Nehru.
As the 1st Home Minister, Patel’s job was significant in integration of several princely states into the Indian federation.
Vallabhbhai Patel accepted that the partition of India could resolve the rising Muslim separatist movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Patel addressed India on the Partition Council and picked the Indian council of ministers with Nehru.
Statue of Unity
World’s Tallest Statue: Some Interesting Facts About India’s Statue of Unity
- The statue faces the Narmada Dam and is located on a river island called Sadhu Bet near Rajpipla on Narmada River.
- It is located between the Satpura and the Vindhya mountain ranges near Kevadia town in Gujarat.The town will be connected to the location of the statue by a 3.5 km highway.
- Visitors can go up to the viewing gallery, which is located near the chest of the statue at a height of 500 feet.
- The Statue of Unity is approximately 4 times taller than New York’s famous Statue of Liberty when plinths are discounted.
- The scale of the project is reflected in the staggering size and weight of its materials: the statue’s construction took 2,500,000 cubic feet of concrete, 5,700 tons of steel structure and 18,500 tons of reinforced steel rods.
- The statue cost approximately $430m (29.9bn rupees) to build.
- There are approximately 12,000 bronze panels covering the structure, weighing around 1,700 tons.
- It is projected that the memorial — remotely located 125 miles from the state capital, Ahmedabad — will become a nationalist pilgrimage for about 2.5 million visitors every year.
- The statue’s height surpasses the Spring Temple Buddha in Henan, China, which, at 420 feet was previously the tallest statue in the world.
- More than 3,000 Indian workers along with several hundred laborers from China, 300 engineers from Larsen & Toubro (L&T) contributed to the construction efforts.
- The project has divided opinion in India, with some criticizing the government’s public spending on the project and others protesting against the displacement of farmers to make way for the memorial.
- The Gujarat government reportedly relocated some 185 families to make way the statue, compensating them with 1,200 acres (475 hectares) of new land.
- The statue will be able to withstand earthquakes and wind speed up to around 100 km per second.
