India unveils "largest" statue, International, Phnom Penh Post

INDIA on Wednesday inaugurated the world's largest statue with ostentation, fireworks and increased security against the outcry provoked by local groups over the cost of reproduction of a hero of Indian independence, from a height 182 meters.

Activists said that a dozen of their leaders had been arrested before Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially opened the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel tribute, with an overflight of the plane, helicopters raining flowers on the statue and fireworks in national colors green, orange and white.

"Today is a day that will remain in the history of India," said Modi, who praised Sardar Patel's "strategic thinking" aimed at bringing the disparate country together after the war. Independence in 1947 and the Statue of Unity as "a symbol of our technology and technology". prowess."

But around the statue in a remote corner of the state of Gujarat, more than 5,000 policemen oversaw the huge site where construction work took nearly four years to complete the megaproject. Hundreds of Chinese are among the 3,500 workers.

Anand Mazgaonkar, leader of a community group in Narmada district, said the plainclothes police took 12 people Tuesday night to the local police headquarters.

The police denied holding detentions. But the authorities took no chances in case community groups would hold demonstrations to claim compensation for the land taken to erect the statue of Unity, which cost 29.9 billion rupees ($ 400 million). of dollars).

"Police patrols intensified as a result of demonstrations by the local tribal community and its leaders. UAVs and helicopters will monitor the entire area, "said Narmada Police Inspector General Abhay Chudasama before the ceremony.

The leaders of 22 local villages signed a letter calling on Modi to stay away from the inauguration.

Modi posters with Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani were torn or their faces blackened over the weekend. The police were watching the posters instead of the torn ones.

The local legislator and leader of community groups, Chotu Vasava, said: "Tribal groups have been exploited by different governments, the BJP (Bharatiya Janata party) in power is repeating it again."

"I am not against Sardar, but what good is the statue if the inhabitants must suffer and be displaced from their homes?"

'Nationalist giant'

More than 80% of the local population belongs to tribal groups enjoying special protection status.

The Gujarat government said the 185 families displaced to make room for the statue had been compensated and given 475 ha of new land.

Modi, whose nationalist government made the statue one of its flagship projects, paid tribute as air force jets shrieked overhead and as Dance troupes were performing.

The name of Sardar Patel had been largely overshadowed by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that had dominated Indian politics since 1947. But Modi-inspired nationalists sought to put their heroes back in the foreground.

The statue is more than twice the size of the New York Statue of Liberty and is also a dwarf of the 128-meter-tall Spring Temple Buddha in China, the second largest statue in the world.

It is composed of nearly 100,000 tons of concrete and steel.

The online reservation to visit the Statue of the Unit was opened with an admission fee of 350 rupees (US $ 4.75) for the 153 meter high observation deck.

The Indian authorities hope the statue will attract 15,000 visitors a day to the remote corner of Gujarat, about 100 km from the nearest town, Vadodora.

India is also working on a giant statue of the 17th-century warrior king, Chhatrapati Shivaji, riding a horse and wielding a sword, which is expected to dominate the Mumbai shoreline from 2021. The current design would make it 212 meters from above.