PM Modi will inaugurate Sardar Patel's statue on October 31: Rupani

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a statue of Sardar Patel on the birth anniversary of India's first home minister on October 31, news agency PTI reported quoting Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the BJP's national executive meeting, the BJP leadersaid the statue with a height of 182 metres will be a symbol of the country's unity and integrity, the report added.

The statue has been called a statue of unity by the Gujarat government.

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Rupani said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had collected iron, soil and water from across the country to use them to build the statue in the state, a decision announced by Modi in 2013 when he was its chief minister.

In an apparent reference to the issue of Naxalism following the arrest of some activists for allegedly collaborating with Left ultras, Rupani said the statue will highlight Patel's works for the country's unity at a time when a few people are working to break it.

When Modi had made an announcement that his government would build the world's tallest statue to commemorate Patel, opposition parties had termed it as "empty talk" but it has now been raised with world-class facilities, he was quoted as saying.