India inaugurates world’s tallest statue to celebrate independence hero

India on Wednesday inaugurated the world’s tallest statue, a $400-million effigy of independence hero Vallabhbhai Patel that towers nearly twice the height of New York’s Statue of Liberty.

The 182-metre (597-ft) steel and bronze “Statue of Unity”, in the prime minister’s western home state of Gujarat, is part of his Hindu nationalist party’s efforts to re-brand what it calls “forgotten” leaders.

Depicting the bald Patel in traditional attire, with a shawl over the shoulders, the statue used 210,000 cubic meters of cement, 25,000 tonnes of steel and 1,700 tonnes of bronze.

“Patel wanted India to be a forceful, strong, sensitive, vigilant and accommodative nation, and we’re working toward that,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at Wednesday’s ceremony.

(Reuters)