To erect the lifesize statue of the ‘Iron Man of India’ — Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday launched the campaign by handing over soil from his farms and parts of his agriculture implements to State BJP president Kamal Sharma for the same.
A brainchild of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP has launched a campaign to build the Statue of Unity in Gujarat with the soil and iron-made farm implements collected from across the country.
“Sardar Patel played a pro-active role in the unity and nation building and as a symbol to his true character, we have started collecting this material from nearly 12,500 villages across the State…As an able administrator, he included 562 provincial States in the national mainstream,” said Badal.
Chief Minister added that the statue would be 182 metre high and would be double in height from the ‘Statue of liberty’ in USA. “Nearly `2,500 crore would be spent on this statue and it would be the highest statue in the world… This statue is being installed near Kewaria in Narmada district at a place Sadhu Baid Island nearly 3.5 kilometre from Sardar Sarovar Dam,” he added. Stating that the statue would be a symbol of unity, Badal said that a Agriculture Research Centre and Museum also be constructed on this place to disseminate the views and ideology of Iron Man of India to enable our younger generations about the towering personality of this great leader.
Terming Modi as the true successor of Sardar Patel’s legacy, Badal said that he could only run the country to fulfill people’s aspirations and therefore, NDA should be voted to power to ensure overall
development and welfare of
its people. BJP State president Kamal Sharma added that this campaign has been launched from Badal village and would be continued across the state for a month to collect soil from sacred places and agriculture implements for the statue of Sardar Patel. “These implements of iron would be recast for making its use in the statue,” he added.