The highest statue in the world ready to be inaugurated in India: NPR

Deep in western India, a giant bigger than anyone in the world is waiting for its imminent welcome in the world. The Statue of Unity, a 200-meter monument dedicated to a founding father of independent India, is to be inaugurated on Wednesday.

This will probably just leave time to finish scrolling all from the photo below.

The statue depicts Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who along with Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, has helped India to the independence of the United Kingdom. Often known as the Iron Man of India, he was the prime minister of home affairs and deputy prime minister of the independent country. helping to reunite his hundreds of disparate states into a coherent and functional entity before his death in 1950.

Henceforth, the Indian leader, now deceased, will enjoy not only a haunting reputation, but also a memorial monument literally dominant in his original region, the State of Gujarat, in the west of the country. The Statue of Unity, worth $ 400 million, overlooks the Sardar Sarovar Dam near the town of Vadodara.

To give you a glimpse of the ladder: it would take about four statues of freedom, each at the top of the last, just so Lady Liberty reaches the crown of the head of the Iron Man with its torch.

And as for his toes – well, his big toe alone is easily bigger than the building workers who are putting the finishing touches to the statue.

He crushes his closest competitor, the Spring Temple Buddha, in Henan, China. This copper behemoth culminates at 420 feet high on an 18-meter pedestal containing a monastery.

The Henan Buddha will abandon the title of the highest statue in the world when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the statue of unity on Wednesday. Modi, also from Gujarat, plans to make a special prayer at the feet of the statue and deliver a dedication speech before the air force flies over.

The Colossus has not been without controversy, however.

Local tribal leaders announced a boycott of the inauguration ceremony, citing the destruction of nearby natural resources, according to Indian broadcaster NDTV.

"These forests, rivers, waterfalls, land and agriculture have sustained us for generations and we have survived them," they said in an open letter quoted by the broadcaster. "But everything is being destroyed and celebrations are also planned.Do not you think it sounds like celebrating the death of someone? We feel so good."

They also claimed that the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on the statue could have been better used elsewhere, including the unreliable channel system nearby.

"This is for political gain as tribal groups in Gujarat are still suffering and lack basic human necessities," said a local leader.

These objections did little to dampen Modi's enthusiasm.

"All Indians will be proud of the fact that the tallest statue in the world is now in India, Sardar Patel, the man tied to the earth, will now adorn the sky," he said Sunday. "I am sure that every Indian will be proud to speak to the world about this great achievement."