Ahmedabad, 23 October 2013

The Gujarat Chief Minister has invited the Union Minister for Rural Development to the groundbreaking ceremony of a 182 meter high giant statue of Sardar Patel called the ‘Statue of Unity’ on Sardar Patel birth anniversery on October 31.

Addressing the Congress leader as “My dear Jairamji”, Modi said that project is mentored by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust and stressed that the the entity has been kept at “an arms’ length from government”.

“It is our belief that the monument will become an important cornerstone in the cultural and social life of our great nation, and hence we have kept this entity at an arms’ length from government to enable co-option of eminent persons from all walks of life,” Modi said in his letter to Ramesh mentioning that he chairs the Trust, which is a Gujarat government entity, in an ex-officio capacity.

The BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate concluded the letter with his “warm personal regards”.

In the letter, Modi said that the 182 meter high statue of Sardar Patel, located in the middle of Narmada River, 3.5 km south of the Sardar Sarovar dam at Kevadia, Narmada district, would stand at twice that of ‘Statue of Liberty’ and with benchmarked standards that are superior to comparable structures in the world.