The curious case of Statue of Unity Unbiased Perception

The curious case of Statue of Unity Unbiased Perception

Since the Statue of Unity is created, it has got all the attention that was expected be it for good reasons or bad, there are right-wingers and leftists, and there are bloggers and content creators sharing their views in their own ways. So we thought why not also dig some facts, keep things simple and show the people around us the real picture

We are picking the following points for our analysis

• Cost Factor
• Why it was created
• Why only Sardar Patel was selected

Cost Factor | Statue of Unity

As if now everyone has one number in mind which is 3000 Crores, which is more or less correct however it is a  complete project cost and not for statute.   To begin with, the exact cost of the project is 2989 Crores  INR, Out of which The main cost of the statue is  1357 Crore,   657 crores has been kept as reserve as expected cost of maintenance for the next 15 years for the project, 235 crores will be used for 128 rooms hotel, exhibition and convention centre and 83 crores are sanctioned for the bridge that will connect the project with the mainland.

So the summary is 1357 crores is used for the creation of the statue

We have already seen many Return on Investment (ROI) analyses on TVs, the internet and newspapers but all were looking only at financial factors tributes, prestige, pride etc cannot be quantified in terms of sheer money

But to give perspective let us also try a few of our own comparisons.

The current population of India is 1,359,440,375 as on 13^th November 2018,  if the Statue of Unity was not created and everyone in India is distributed this 3000 Crores each one might have got 220 INR per person.  I am sure for 220 Rupees each one could’ve gifted some more soan papdi to each other.

Now some of our readers pay taxes on behalf of the whole population of 1359440375 individuals of India, so per our records, the last updated taxpayer count of India was 6.84 crores,  if these 3000 crores were given to each one of the taxpayers they might have got 4386 INR each, but these 4386 will be wasted to movies like “Thugs of Hindostan” because no other competitive movie was launched during this hypothetical distribution of taxpayers money.

So we strongly believe that we have saved you more than 5000 bucks and the pain that you suffered through “ Thugs of Hindostan”

Give a man a Fish, it feeds him for today. But teach a man to Fish and you feed him for a lifetime. I guess that’s the move government considered. I am not defending the government here but whatever experience I have  any amount allocated to welfare by the government ends up in politician’s pockets instead of the intended audience

Considering the Taj Mahal being constructed in today’s world, I am sure no one would’ve supported the idea let alone the cause of creation, Statue of Unity was bound to get criticism but history in future will be at peace with it.

Why it was created | Statue of Unity

Any reason you can think of be it prestige, be it tourism, be it tribute, I strongly believe it is justified.  As per my understanding, the USA is among new world nations, they don’t have a rich history but India has one.  The USA created mount rushmore, the Statue of liberty and whatnot. But one thing which separates the USA  from other countries is Patriotism.  They just love their country

India, being culturally rich, has a heritage of history but still struggles with Patriotism.  Suddenly apart from the Taj Mahal, we have another monument to boast about, a new brand for India apart from snake charmers, call centres etc.  Now Hollywood movies will no longer show how the Statue of Liberty or the Rio statue fell we have our own and 5 times bigger one.  However, with this statue, there are other factors too that can be considered to explain why it was created.

It was created for the generation of Buzz in India and around the world, in which the Statue of Unity did an exceptional job if you don’t trust me check out Google trends of the last two weeks  and you will find the most searched keywords are “Statue of Unity” and “Sardar Patel”

Buzz created inside India and around the world garnered attention across the globe, suddenly new audience for Sardar Patel. As a person like me, I was aware of the Statue of Liberty was got to know how small it was as compared to the rest of the statues of the world and now India has got the title of the tallest statue.

Obviously, tourists would come and see, though nothing special about it but economically the route they are expected to follow should help so many businesses along, so certainly a master stroke for Gujrat. Upcoming Generations will certainly know about Sardar Patel and the Statue of Unity.

Why Sardar Patel? | Statue of Unity

Sardar Patel was the iron man of India, his main role during his era was to unite people and hence the Statue of Unity but there were other figures too that can be fit for the tallest statue claim may be Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhimrao Ambedkar, Nehru or even Gandhi may be, if Gandhiji can be on our currency he can be the face of World tallest statue as well. If patriotism was the main concern I believe shahid bhagat singh was a far bigger role model and if inspirational personalities were to be boasted then Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Swami Vivekanand, and Dr APJ Kalam were absolutely good fits.

India is a secular country however one cannot choose any religious figure or god’s face for a national statue that will do the opposite of unity why Sardar Patel Only? Let us decode the biggest question

India has two big political parties one in Congress and another one in BJP, Congress has used the “brand Gandhi” for more than Sixty years and for the rest of the cases Nehru brand was used, Sardar Patel was there in Congress but Congress never used iron man of India and ignored his contributions. When partition happened BJP was not even in existence and let’s accept the fact RSS was never supported by Sardar Patel.   Now cut to the BJP era, now they have everything but no historical role model until the Statue of Unity. They played the masterstroke by using a character from history that has far much more weight in terms of respect and contribution towards nation-building and was ignored by almost every political party.

Since Sardar Patel was part of Congress, no one is going to dispute the cause and BJP wants to show the world that they are neutral and respect the patriotism so they Support the brand “Patel”. Shri Narendra Modi was ex. CM of Gujrat, so he did what he promised that he will look after Gujrat and he is still doing it as a result now BJP has subtly claimed a historical figure as well.

Branding always works, it will work in the future as well so kudos to BJP Think Tank it is a win-win for everyone

Note:- All that is written above is the perception of the writer(Rishi )

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