The Statue of Unity: A sense of pride for India

It is considered as the eighth wonder of the world by the Indian people.

The Statue of Unity is the world’s tallest statue with an incredible engineering works that attracts millions of tourists every year.

The monument depicts Indian statesman and independence activist, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who served as the first home minister of independent India and an adherent of Mahatma Ghandhi.

“After the independence of our country, he played a very important role in unifying all 562 princely states of the country to build the Republic of India. So, the statue is named as the Statue of Unity”, Rahul Patel, a tour guide told journalists from Central and West African countries who visited the tourist site through the facilitation of the External Affairs Ministry of India.

Located on an Island near Kevadia in the state of Gujurat, the statue stands at a height of 182 metres, that is 597 feet tall – equivalent to 60-storey building.

The Spring Temple Buddha in China which used to be the tallest statue before the commissioning of the Statue of Unity in 2018 has a height if 153 metres.

In 1946 when the Gujurat State was experiencing water scarcity, Sardar Patel initiated the construction of a dam on River Narmada to bring relief to his people.

“The dam currently supplies water to more than 10,000 villages with thousands of farmers also using it for irrigation purposes. So, this River is considered the lifeline of the Gujurat State”, Rahul Patel explained.

The Statue is sitting on an Island near the Narmada River. The site attracts around 4 million tourists every month; creating 3,000 direct and 7,000 indirect jobs for the people.

For many tourists, the Statue of Unity is an engineering marvel. Sardar Patel is highly respected for playing a significant role in the political integration of India.

“We are just not looking at the economic benefit but the social aspect. More importantly for us, the colossal monument is a sense of pride paying homage to our national leader. All Indians who come here are extremely proud that there is such a monument which gives them inspiration”.

To the Indian people, the strive for unity by Sardar Patel can never go unnoticed, hence, the collective decision to continuously revere him.

Well, just like the Indians, Ghana also has Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah whose contributions to the country’s independence remain immeasurable.

With the kind of intentional investment being made by the India government to expand facilities and create more interesting side attraction zones around the Statue of Unity, more people are likely to be attracted to the tourist site, and that will also mean more revenue for the government.

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