The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Saturday claimed that statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Narmada district of Gujarat has already divided the nation on the basis of caste, community and religion and in the name of freedom fighters.
Coming down heavily on the BJP-led government at the Centre, Congress vice president Minkir Lollen said that the soul of Sardar Patel would have never been happy to have a statue erected in his name by displacing the tribal people who were living in the surrounding areas where the statue has been built and have now been displace.
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“Sardar Patel exercised non-cooperation to acclaim equal rights for the oppressed. Hence, it is heart wrenching that as many as 75,000 people and 72 tribal villages have been affected by the Statue of Unity. Land and farms of the tribal have been taken away to build the statue. And more inexplicably the Modi-led BJP government had put the tribal protesters and activists who were fighting for their rights during the unveiling ceremony of the statue in jail,” Lollen said in a statement on Saturday.
A tribute to Sardar Patel doesn’t have to be a tallest statue in the world and PM Modi has built the Statue of Unity only to divide the nation in the name of freedom fighters. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of nation has not received any acknowledgment so far from Modi who is enjoying the status of being the prime minister of free India, which itself is a gift from Gandhi,” Lollen added.
The Congress further said that the Statue of Unity for which PM Modi had spent Rs 3000 crore will continue to remind the people of his false promises of providing employment, uniform civil code, 33 per cent reservation for women made by him till eternity.
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“BJP is definitely engulfing the nation to darkest era of “Sadhu Sangh and PashanYug”, the statement further read. Standing tall at 182 meters on Sandhu Island of Narmada River, the Statue of Unity was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 143rd birth anniversary of freedom fighter and India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on Wednesday.
The statue, which was constructed at a cost of Rs 2,989 crore, is now the tallest statue in the world and twice the size of the Statue of Liberty in New York.