ZCZC
BFF-32
INDIA-CULTURE-POLITICS-STATUE
Protests greet world’s biggest statue in remote corner of India
SARDAR SAROVAR DAM, India, Oct 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Angry local
communities have warned India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stay away
from the inauguration on Wednesday of the world’s biggest statue, a 182 metre
(600 feet) high tribute to an independence hero.
The Statue of Unity, which is twice the size of the Statue of Liberty, has
been built in a remote corner of Gujarat state as a flagship project of
conservative leader Modi who is to open it on Wednesday.
But people living around the 29.9 billion rupee ($400 million) statue of
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who played a key role in unifying India after its
independence in 1947, want more compensation for damage to the environment.
Posters of Modi with Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani in a town near the
statue were torn down or had the faces blackened at the weekend.
The chiefs of 22 surrounding villages have warned Modi to stay away from
the inauguration of the mammoth figure, which will push the 128 metre high
Spring Temple Buddha in China into second place.
“We villagers are determined and would like to inform you that on October
31 you (Modi) are not welcome here. If you come here as an unwanted guest we
won’t welcome you,” they said in an open letter sent to the district
administration.
“You and your companies have not only destroyed the natural resources, but
are openly and brazenly exploiting them for business.”
– Icon or extravagance? –
The letter said that building the Statue of Unity and the nearby Sardar
Sarovar Dam had “destroyed” the Narmada river, India’s fifth longest, while
the local population did not have enough schools, hospitals and drinking
water.
Local leader and former member of parliament, Amarsinh Chaudhary, said: “If
Sardar Patel was alive today he would never have agreed to build such a
statue at such a huge cost.
“This is being done for political gains as tribal groups in Gujarat are
still suffering and devoid of basic human necessities.”
Chaudhary said protests were being planned for Wednesday’s inauguration.
Authorities have already laid on tight security because of Modi’s presence.
Chotu Vasava, a legislator in the state assembly, said the statue should
have been built in New Delhi, and that Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party
government picked Gujarat to buy the votes of Sardar’s community.
More than 80 percent of the local population are from tribal groups with
special protected status. But the Gujarat government said the 185 families
moved to make way for the statue had been compensated and given 1,200 acres
(475 hectares) of new land.
The statue has been under construction for nearly four years. About 3,000
workers, including hundreds from China, have put 5,000 squares of bronze
cladding over a concrete and steel frame.
Modi has said the statue will attract “hordes” of tourists, just as the
Statue of Liberty does for New York.
According to the Gujarat government, it will bring 15,000 tourists a day.
Up to 200 visitors at any one time will be allowed on the viewing gallery 153
metres up.
Critics point to the lack of hotels in the region. The nearest city
Vadodora, is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) away and Gujarat’s main city,
Ahmedabad, is more than 200 kilometers away.
It is also in a high security zone as the Sardar dam is on a list of
sensitive national installations, so all tourists will have to undergo
identity checks.
There are no trains, and most tourists will have to take a bus on a four-
lane highway from Vadodora.
The state government is hurriedly building a new guest house complex with a
large food court to cater for an expected tourist rush.
BSS/AFP/RY/1638 hrs