World's Tallest Statue, The Statue Of Unity, To Be Installed In India Is Being Made In China

In an irony of ironies, the world's tallest statue ¡ª the Statue of Unity¡ª is being smelted and cast in China's Nanchang province. This not only goes against the central government's 'Make in India' campaign but is also the last thing that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel would have wanted. And evidence for this can be found in history.

The 182-metre-tall memorial statue of Sardar Patel will be installed on Sadhu Bet near Sardar Sarovar dam and has been given a 'National Project' status.

Sardar patel warns Nehru of China

In November 7, 1950, a month before he died, Sardar wrote a confidential letter marked 'strictly personal' to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru warning him of China ¡ª he was highly critical of Chinese diplomacy. In this letter to Nehru, Sardar says: "...even though as we (India) regard ourselves as friends of China, the Chinese do not regard us as their friends. With the communist mentality of "whoever is not with them being against them," this is a significant pointer, of which we have to take due note...."

Sardar was speaking in the context of India being used by the Chinese as a "stooge" in their handling of Anglo-American diplomacy in Tibet and in gathering support for their entry into the UN.

Sardar Patel further says in the letter: "China continues to regard us with suspicion and the whole psychology is of, at least outwardly, skepticism...." Sardar then warns Nehru of Chinese military and intelligence appreciation and China's "threat to India, both on the frontier and to internal security". This letter forms part of the crucial Indian Constitution documents compiled by KM Munshi, a member of the constitution committee.

'Make in India' campaign, but Sardar Patel's statue 'Made in China'

The work of building the statue has been sub-contracted by L&T to the world's largest foundry in China ¡ª the Jiangxi Toqine Metal Handicrafts Co Ltd ¡ª despite the fact that India has 4,600 foundry units that employ 5 lakh people. Statistics of the Institute of Indian Foundrymen indicate that India is second only to China in the world in the number of foundries it has and their workforce.

K Srinivas, member-secretary of the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust (SVPRET), the nodal agency that works under the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL), told TOI that they have not outsourced the construction of Sardar's statue.

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"As it's a project of international importance, the company might have opted for a global supplier. Only bronze-plating will be done in China,'' said Srinivas. Anil Ram Sutar, son of leading sculptor artist who is working for the Gujarat government in designing the Statue Of Unity said: "We have prepared a 30-feet model of the statue to be installed at Gandhinagar and for managing the modelling and artwork for the whole project."

Manish Doshi, Gujarat Congress spokesperson, said the Modi government spends crores of rupees on the Make in India campaign. "Yet it has allowed Sardar Patel's statue to be cast by a Chinese company when Indian foundries employ 5 lakh people,'' said Doshi.

(Originally published in The Times of India)