An archetype of unity is all set to grow from soil, toil and tools of the farmers.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday said it is setting up a “statue of unity”, almost double the size of effigy of liberty in the US, by recycling farming equipment and using soil brought from every nook and corner of India.
This is not all. To mobilise “each and every” citizen to “contribute” their bit for the “world’s highest statue” of ‘Iron Man of India’ Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Gujarat Government and several NGOs have come up with some out-of-the-box ideas.
From setting in motion the movement to collect iron and soil, to organise marathon, march, competitions, signing petitions, and what not…a team of young technocrats were in city on Monday to train the party workers from northern States — Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir — for the same.
The project is Gujarat Chief Minister and NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s bid to claim the legacy of country’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Even as Modi’s “dream project” is an echo the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Ram Mandir mission of 80s and 90s when bricks were collected from across the country to set up temple at Ayodhya, the ‘Statue of Unity’ movement can be termed as its updated and hi-tech version.
The gigantic task of erecting 182 metres high statue comprise six components — write for unity, compilation of photo collage, run for unity, locality meetings comprise a collection of iron and steel, and signing of Su-raaj (good governance) petition.
For the purpose, the Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), a non-profit organisation has conceptualised the project. It has come out with more than two lakh specially designed bar-coded boxes, similar number of resource kits to be distributed in schools, and similar number of resource kits to be distributed amongst the gram panchayats and wards across the country.
The boxes consist of a bottle for soil, a Su-raaj petition, pens, poster regarding ‘Statue of Unity’, copies of a personalised letter of invitation by Modi, CDs of the short film on Vallabhbhai Patel, guidelines, and some other merchandise.
“These will be distributed among two lakh village panchayats and 50,000 representatives of the civic bodies in urban localities all across the nation. We would ask them to return the boxes with signed Su-raaj petitions, chunks of iron farm tools and a photograph of the village sarpanch,” a member of CAG, who do not wish to be named, told The Pioneer.
CAG member added, “The work on the project has already started, and right now it is in collection phase which is three-month-long campaign. It is divided into four parts, starting from the ‘Run for Unity’ on December 15, where more than 20 lakh people are expected to participate in marathon and march at over 565 locations on the same day between 8 am to 11 am.”
“We would be aiming at two world records — most number of people participating in a run, and most number of places at one point of time,” said the member. After the run, a ‘Pan-India Slogan-Essay Competition’ on Sardar Patel would be conducted across two lakh schools expecting participation of 50 lakh students from secondary an higher secondary classes across the country.
With the pictures, sent by the sarpanchs and elected city representatives, a “biggest” photo collage would be prepared to be displayed at the Museum to be built in the premises of the ‘Statue of Unity’.
“The main component of this campaign is the ‘locality Meetings’ via which 700 ton of iron would be used covering 5.5 lakh villages, towns and cities. “The people would be asked to sign the Su-raaj petition and donate pieces of iron farm tool, and also the soil. While the entire iron would be recycled to be used for the statue, part of the soil would be used for the statue and rest would be placed in the museum,” added the CAG member.