The BJP wants to change the way history is perceived and show that the right wing was as important in India's freedom struggle." "Patel has been used to wipe out the Nehru legacy. "The BJP has been appropriating icons for some time," said Sudha Pai of the Indian Council of Social Science Research. Read also: German city takes down golden Erdogan statue after outcry Critics say the 36-billion-rupee ($515-million) statue is a way of winning Marathi votes in next year's election.įuelling the fervour, the government announced last week that the word "Maharaj", or king, had been added to the title of Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Hindu nationalists have also adopted Shivaji, who made his name battling the Muslim Mughal empire. In 2016, Modi laid the foundation stone in Maharashtra state for the statue of Shivaji, a hero of the 80 million strong Marathi community based in the state. The opposition Congress party says that a plan to change the Nehru Memorial museum in New Delhi into a centre devoted to all of India's prime ministers is another bid to taint Nehru's name. "He is very likely to use the Statue of Unity during the upcoming campaign but I am worried about how it will influence voters," Shah added. "Modi has used Patel's legacy a lot in his election campaigns," said Ghanshyam Shah, a former professor of class politics at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. "Every Indian regrets Sardar Patel did not become the first prime minister," Modi said while campaigning in 2013. Many Hindu nationalists feel it was a slight when Patel was asked to step aside to let the secular Nehru become the country's first leader.
Patel became known as the "Iron Man of India" by persuading - through talks and a hint of force - some 550 princely states to become part of India after independence from Britain in 1947. Patel was deputy to India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru after independence in 1947 and Modi's nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party says his name has been unfairly overshadowed by the dominant Nehru dynasty. There is also a political motive to the mega project, with India heading into a campaign for a national election early next year. Read also: Garuda Wisnu Kencana: Precious gift for Independence Day Visitors will be able to access a viewing gallery 153 metres up - about chest height on the huge standing figure.īut they will have to travel 250 kilometres (150 miles) from the state's main city of Allahabad to get there.
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