Charging successive Congress governments at the Centre with ignoring great leaders of the country only to project a single family, National Coordinator of the Iron Collection Coordination Committee (ICCC) for constructing Statue of Liberty in Gujarat, Om Parkash Dhandkar, today said aim of constructing this world’s largest statue is to create national awareness.“India cannot afford to bury the life of a man as great as Sardar Patel, into oblivious pages of history. To keep him alive in the hearts of generations to come is the only tribute that he can be commented with. It is thus in order to make Sardar Patel a source of inspiration every generation, that such a massive and pine statue is being built/project is being undertaken”, Dhankar said while addressing state committee meeting of the ICCC in which State President of BJP Jugal Kishore Sharma and State Convenor of the committee Dr. Nirmal Singh were also present.
Dhankar said that “Sardar Patel brought the nation together and this tribute, the Statue of Unity, will bring the country national pride. This unique initiative of the Gujarat government aims at building the World Largest Statue, a structure that will be 182m tall. Standing tall opposite one of the biggest dams in the world will be this monument that will, just like Sardar's spirit and will, surpass the rest”, he informed and added that visitors at this statue will be able to get a panoramic view of the picturesque surrounding from a height of almost 400feet. A monument, that will not just be a mute memorial like the rest, but a fully functional, purpose-serving tribute that will boost tourism and facilitate development in the surrounding tribal areas.Giving details of the programmes to be launched in connection with the campaign, Dhankar said that on December 15, Run for Unity will be organised in every nook and corner of the country. After that a campaign would be started to collect iron and soil from every village of the country. “Through this campaign we want to give a message of unity in the country and every section of the society would be involved in this campaign”, he said and added that ICCC has decided to contact early five lakh villages of the country to collect iron and soil for the construction of Statue of Liberty.
Speaking on the occasion, Jugal Kishore Sharma assured every possible help from the state unit of BJP to accomplish this task. He said that Statue of Unity will give a message of national integration. Dr Nirmal Singh in his address, announced that a comprehensive campaign would be launched in every village of Jammu and Kashmir to collect iron and soil. He said that main aim of this campaign is to cement national integration and brotherhood. He said that decision to construct Statue of Liberty was historical because the campaign of collecting iron and soil would inculcate a sense of nationalism among younger generation across the country.BJP Kissan Morcha State President & Committee Member Karan Singh, BJP State Secretary & Committee Member Pawan Khajuria and others leaders were also present on the occasion.