Sardar Patel Statue of Unity is Narendra Modi’s political vanity project.
India will now have the tallest statue in the world, and it is the Sardar Patel Statue of Unity. It will add to the symbolic and rhetorical pride that Indians like to revel in these days.
If you are one of those people who think this will bring loads of pride and millions of foreign tourists to our country, let me ask you one question: Which was the tallest statue in the world till now?
If you said Statue of Liberty, you’re wrong. You are one of the many people in the world who have no idea where the tallest statue is. And, this really goes on to show how valuable an achievement the Sardar Patel Statue of Unity is. By the way, the tallest statue in the world was the Spring Temple Buddha in China. But don’t be embarrassed if you have never heard of it. It is never even listed in the top 10 tourist attractions in China. The Great Wall, the Terracotta Army and the Forbidden City are the top three tourist attractions in China. Guess what’s common between them? They are all historical and cultural wonders.
Across the world, historical monuments and sites are a far better tourist magnet than any modern construction. That is why the Eiffel Tower gets almost 7 million tourists every year compared to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which gets 2 million tourists despite being the tallest building in the world.
There’s no reason to believe why the Statue of Unity would attract more tourists than India’s top historical wonders like Taj Mahal or Amber fort. It is another matter that BJP MLA Sangeet Som tried his best to denigrate Taj Mahal for his politics.
Also read: The political & electoral motivations behind Modi’s push for grand Sardar Patel statue
The Sardar Patel statue is about political symbolism, and does not add to India’s rich culture and history. Our country is, in fact, overflowing with historical and cultural monuments but we hardly have the money to preserve them. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has over 3600+ monuments under its custody, including 36 world heritage sites. It has to reach out to the private sector to adopt the monuments. In fact, ASI spent more money to build its new headquarters than it did on conservation of the monuments in 2017.
Moreover, only 116 monuments have entry tickets, which can earn revenue. Upgrading services at these monuments, including at the Taj Mahal, would give tourism a better boost than spending Rs 3,000 crore on one political statue.
Also read: The row over Red Fort shows Indian liberals outrage first and Google much later
Economically, this statue makes no sense either. The Taj Mahal is the most visited tourist attraction in India, which earns an annual revenue of Rs 25 crore from 8 million tourists. It would be optimistic to hope that the Sardar Patel Statue of Unity will get even a tenth of that number. But even if we assume that the Statue of Unity becomes as popular as the Taj Mahal, it would take more than 120 years to just break even. Add to that the maintenance cost, and it probably will never even become profitable. One can argue that visitor centres, museums and restaurants would help generate revenue but how much of that money will end up in government treasury?
The entire Sardar Patel statue project costs approximately $430 million (Rs 3,000 crore). Of which, the cost of just the statue (182 metres) is nearly $200 million (Rs 1,347 crore). The Spring Temple Buddha statue had cost $18 million (128 metre). Even with inflation, it is unfathomable why it is 10 times higher here.
Thousands of tribals will hold a mass protest against the statue because their lands were taken away. The statue is also made with the help of Chinese workers. With so many question marks on the Statue of Unity, all we have is the justification of political benefit.
But this isn’t be the first time Indian politicians have indulged in political vanity projects of building statues – albeit not at this scale.
In the 1990s, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N.T. Rama Rao dreamed of a tall 440-tonne granite Buddha statue in the Hussain Sagar Lake. He was inspired by his visit to New York’s Statue of Liberty. But even before the statue was installed, it fell off the barge that was transporting it and lay flat in the waters for long, causing him much grief.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also inaugurated a tall statue of Raja Bhoj along the Bhopal lake – obstructing the view for many residents. At the inauguration ceremony, Chouhan said he will try to bring back Bhoj’s goddess’ statue, ‘Vagdevi’, from the British Museum.
Also read: The political dynasty nobody is talking about: Sardar Patel’s
Modi only took this trend a notch above everyone else and, in his characteristic style, aimed for it to be the world’s tallest statue. Ask yourself this: If Iron Man Sardar Patel was alive today, what would be his response to this gigantic blunder?
The author is an activist and YouTuber
Ah, just what you could exppect from our belooved dhruv tatti
Rathi ji- ave you ever try to find out the cost of Ambedkar park which one built in UP? I think never because you never got money for that or got donation for that. you got donation to write blog one The Statue of unity so you are writing but before writing anything just cross check that what you are going to write not to whatever told you to write.
Dhruv saalaa chorr hai
But in the bottom line, the statue of unity is the next-gen attraction in India.
Have you visited there ? What was so good about that statue?
https://tfipost.com/2019/11/statue-of-unity-earned-3-times-more-than-the-taj-mahal-in-the-last-12-months/?fbclid=IwAR12VJ7Wn0DI_erPSLG4scJgdGEVQwQkVEg2qW1h17GGjfERAirSo6wcC6M
2.1 crs in 10 days, wil the idiotic author eat his own words
This so called journalist DHRUV RATHEE needs to read news haha. His numbers are nonsense. Statue of Unity will break even in between 30-35 years from now, based on the revenue of 2.1 crores generated in the first 10 days.
It could take 50 years, 120 years, 200 years or even more to breakeven, coz computing breakeven on Day 0 is based on assumptions that could differ from person to person, apart from cost of project, all other components are based on assumptions, we should wait atleast for a year to get a better picture of the project with few real values helping to actually calculate the break even.
ThePrint has some very good articles but articles like this are very immature, not throughly researched and assume the readers are fool. I’m not telling that any article can’t criticize something but the criticism should be based on facts and reasonable justifications.. many of the above comments have provided enough examples.. i dont need to waste my time for such immature stuff.. this article is so poor that it kind of makes ThePrint looks some fresh college grad project just doing some silly writing stuff! anyways if these kind of nuisance continues on ThePrint then wire, quint and scroll are better to read!
I believe there is a assumption miss which should be edited in the article. The assumption of the 120 years with 1 million visitors. Because some people are assuming that the article is taking 8 million visitors ( of Taj Mahal)
Well the cost of Shanghai Maglev was about 1.2 billion USD and that too for a 7 minutes ride to cross 19 miles (source wikipedia) and its suffering huge loses. So, why build them?
I guess people should really have some proper sense of economics before even thinking of analysing such projects and this is only one of the hundreds of examples of such projects that can be found.
So, just that you got access to a media and you think you can make a statement, you shouldn’t. It really only puts yourself in bad light.
Print too should think and analyze before printing such articles.
Funny calculation! Build your maths bro.. build your maths..
Please keep your maths right! It’s funny to post fools calculation like this.. And what’s your point? I hardly see your logic! Statue is to build nationality in fools
Hello Mr Author,
Just One thing on future the world students will search for the tallest statue in World. There the name comes statue of unity in India…That will be proud moment for Indians which a break even can’t compare.
Another Thing Do You Buy Expensive Cars like Merc BMW Audi for its break even or for your status….
So some things in life and country is above profits…..
Now Come to the facts and figures Taj Mahal is not break even till today.
But do you know manufacturing cost of it. No right its known for its beauty and culture.
That’s what we lack in World because we criticise more and appreciate less….
What a stupid writer, don’t even have basic sense of finance. Wasted my time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plCkS7bX31Y
people plz see this video a perfect rebuttal to this mentally retarded and filled with hatred dhruv rathee’s propaganda article
Arrey..Mr Author…pls stop being a sadist…It is a befitting monument for generations to come…Certain things have to be done in style and thats the way it is.
90 percent money allocated for various projects are eaten up in corruption and work also is done shabbily but we the people dont worry…but here you cry over money spent on an iconic statue which is masterfully done and delivered with Panache!!!
All indians cutting across party lines should be happy.
The impact of this will be known in generations to come..
..also dont forget its an engineering marvel from India!!
Damn i feel the same for the Mahatma Gandhi Mandapam setup in all the major cities .. For all the Nehru parks in different cities .. Why waste thousands of crores on this .. Frustrated one sided and research less articles for the print
Its true that the government has spent large amount of money on the statue but its not complete waste of money. The author of this article lacks understanding of financial concepts and yet attempted to pretty much state that we won’t see ROI in near future. You CANNOT calculate the break even cost of a large project like this based on the money obtained from gate receipts only!! There are other dimensions to the project which you probably don’t know or your brain couldn’t comprehend at this point. You decided to pick the easiest one and assumed that the ticket will cost x amount of money. Money obtained from gate receipts won’t be a lot but that’s not the focal point of the project. How about you look at the broader perspective where tourism created by this project will directly benefit the hospitality and retail industry in near by areas. You cannot calculate costs willy nilly and make ignorant statements about breaking even.
I think the author needs to go get better education and refrain from writing articles based on financial figures. it would be nice if someone could assist him because he is clearly incompetent in this area. All you have done through this article is just advertised your ignorance and taken a dig at the government because its the flavor of the season. Hope the author moves on from just being an “activist and Youtuber” to being a qualified journalist at some point in his career.
Thank God, The print was not in the era of Mughals, otherwise they must have questioned the building of Tajmahal!
At Least people will get some tourist and get money for livelihood. Else they would become writer and waste others time.
Stupid writer. Wasting our time.
Dhurev it is all political gimmick and nothing more
# If they have taken this step to built statue of unity for iron man of india how many have fought for the freedom struggle of india then they should also be put in this list and govt should make statue for them as well and by this the GDP level decrease and GDP per capita of india is 2174.133 $US {2016_2022}
# it is shame on modi govt that they are busy in only contraversial issues throughout these five years.
Keep it up Dhruv ????
A very interesting article raising very serious questions: 1. Spending such huge amount of money on the name of pride and tourism etc is more important or spending money for the people of country who are striving even for there basic needs is more important. 2. Preserving historical heritage monuments is more important or erecting new ones. 3. All leaders and common who gave their life for indian freedom should not be equally respected. 4. Does statue of unity is the present requirment or actual unity of people. 5. one govt come and do scams, other came and start making statue both are spoiling money of common. True or false think. We are developing nation we dont have money for show off, stop behaving like dum fellows… just once divide the cost of statue with total population count of country and see how much it cost every individual. In these individuals those people also come whose earning for day is just 30 to 50Rs. Dont just erect statues of our great leaders , read their life and try to erect there moral ethics in one self. Just search on internet that how many people die in india every year due to shortage of food, shelter and medical services. Statue do not feed empty stomach. Govt is for serving people of state(country) not for erecting statues…
Potential tourist to State of Unity, might be a 100 million dollar question. Because, tourist who would google Gujarat places, internet searchers would find long list of visiting places other than historical place(s), e.g. a long awaited case of pending justice to the riot victims which were witnessed in the calendar of February to March 2002, 26 mass-massacres casualty was plus 2000 (official 1000 plus). The riot engineered machinery (majority IAS; IPS; lower judiciary, barring few amongst them) had easily acquitted. Even, the Apex Temple of Justice had exonerated main culprit(s) through a convenient SIT (in-charge on Corporate Payroll). The tourist might be also interested to visit Naroda Patia; Naroda Gam; Gulberga Society; Panchmahal, etc. for finding the truth; failure to provide justice, etc.
Mr Rathee, don’t be a sadist or a blind Congi. Everything is not commerce. Culture, heritage, prosperity and remembering Nation builder’s are not measured in terms of money. This monument is certainly an asset and will enhance India’s prestige. The infrastructure and it’s surroundings will provide immene business opportunities and generate employment. Sardar Patel is India’s strongest Politician and a great visionary. This is a befitting tribute to his memory and message to the youth of today. See with a positive mind and you will see a brimming India. Don’t shed negative thoughts please.
do you really think that the entry fee for tajmahal which is 10-15 rs. be the same for this newly created sardar vallahbhai patel statue(made for tourist attraction spot) ?
it will surely be not less than 100 rs.
now do the maths again, divide your years by 10, it gives you 12 years
thank you ????
do you really think that the entry fee for tajmahal which is 10-15 rs. be the same for this newly created sardar vallahbhai patel statue(made for tourist attraction spot) ?
it will surely be not less than 100 rs.
now do the maths again, divide your years by 10, it gives you 12 years
thank you ????
do you really think that the entry fee for tajmahal which is 10-15 rs. be the same for this newly created sardar vallahbhai patel statue(made for tourist attraction spot) ?
it will surely be not less than 100 rs.
now do the maths again, divide your years by 10, it gives you 12 years
thank you ????
Very Happy to see that all these bhakts feel proud of the iron Man of India who was a Congressman to the core and banned rss during his time. Sanghis who do not have a single such tall leader like Nehru, Nethaji, Gandhi & so many others have to usurp leaders from Congress as their icons.
Waiting for a tall statue of Gandhi who is also a Congressman & also from Gujarat
Dhruv ‘s videos & articles brings right way to think.
It is sad that we have such writers who always find a way to resist and protest development and Creation.. and irony is that they dont realize it and against they there beilief that they are progressive , they are actually a true opposite .. I feel sad but let these kind of voices also be heard..Thanks