- Sunday, March 02, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Life-size cutouts of personalities, be it politicians or film stars or cricketers, are not uncommon in India. Since people from these three tribes are known for their king-size images and gigantic fan following, installation of their giant cutouts whenever there is an approaching election or a film’s release or a high-voltage cricket match is believed to give their cause a major boost.
But nowadays, cutouts seem to be losing the battle to giant statues, especially in the case of politicians. India has seen installation of huge statues of late leaders of late and on April 14, a 35-metre bronze statue of the country’s iconic social reformer BR Ambedkar, who is also known as the father of the Indian Constitution, will be unveiled in the southern city of Hyderabad on the occasion of his 122nd birth anniversary.
According to a Times UK report, nearly 40,000 people will be transported in buses to the venue of the statue’s inauguration ceremony in the capital of the state of Telangana. Officials will be showering flowers on the statue from a hovering helicopter and a crane will be used to remove the cloth put up as a veil.
Ambedkar, who was also India’s first law and justice minister and is revered for championing rights of the Dalits, the lowest stratum of the caste system in India.
The statue has been built for a whopping Rs 400 million (£3.9 million), according to local reports. Its 98-year-old designer Ram Vanji Sutar has built a number of big statues of Indian politicians, including many of Mahatma Gandhi, India’s iconic freedom fighter, throughout the country.
The statue took seven years to complete and about 260 tonnes of steel and bronze were used in it. Its 15-metre pedestal, which is designed in the shape of India’s parliament, has a library and museum dedicated to Ambedkar’s life. According to local politicians, it will be a tourist attraction, especially for Buddhists.
But Hyderabad is not the only city where a statue of Ambedkar is being established. Another is also under construction in the western city of Mumbai, India’s financial capital. It will be the third-tallest in the world at a height of 137 metres, much bigger than the previous one. The initiative has been slammed by some of Ambedkar’s descendants who felt there should have been a library instead to remember the late leader’s work, The Times report added.
The world’s tallest statue also belongs to an Indian politician and it is of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India’s first home minister who is credited with unifying several princely states with current-day India. Unveiled by prime minister Narendra Modi in the western state of Gujarat in 2018, the ‘Statue of Unity’ stands at 182 metres, eclipsing the 153-metre Spring Temple Buddha in China’s Henan which was finished in 2008.
But even Patel’s statue is not safe. The northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh announced soon after Patel’s statue was unveiled that it would set up a 221-metre effigy of Hindu god Lord Rama.
The much-loved god of the Hindus will also dwarf another massive statue which is coming off the coast of Mumbai and it is of 17th century king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
