NEW DELHI: The Indian state of Gujarat has invited global tenders to help build the world's tallest statue – a 182-meter memorial to an independence hero that will cost $300 million. The towering 597-foot figure, which would reach almost halfway up New York's Empire State Building, will bear the likeness of Vallabhbhai Patel, the freedom fighter who guided India's integration into a united, independent nation. Patel was born in Gujarat. Known as the “Statue of Unity”, it will be built on an islet in Gujarat's Narmada river, a few miles downstream from the giant Narmada Dam hydroelectric project. Known as the “Iron Man of India”, Patel played a major role in the struggle for independence from British rule. A close friend and ally of Mahatma Gandhi, with whom he shared a prison cell, he became the leader of the Congress Party in 1934 and was a leading force in the Quit India civil disobedience movement. Patel's lasting legacy was forged in his role as India's first home minister, when he was tasked with moulding a united country from hundreds of semi-autonomous princely states and British-era colonial provinces. The monument, which will only be accessible by boat, will have lifts to take visitors to the top for a panoramic view from Patel's eye. It will be four times the height of the Statue of Liberty and six times that of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. It would also tower 50 metres over the 128-metre Spring Temple Buddha in China's Henan Province which currently holds the title of world's tallest statue. – Agence France
