Statue of Sardar Patel

Practically every news channel and everyone in "learned" circle are criticizing the construction of stairs of Sardar Patel. Logic and Arguments presented are great. I do not disagree with any of them. I wanted to offer some perspective on the subject. Should such monuments be constructed? I am listing several monuments known to us today. Globally large number of tourists travel to these locations. These monuments provide direct and indirect employment to a large number of people.

• Great Pyramid of Giza,

• Hanging Gardens of Babylon,

• Temple of Artemis at Ephesus,

• Statue of Zeus at Olympia,

• Mausoleum at Halicarnassus(also known as the Mausoleum of Mausolus),

• Colossus of Rhodes,

• Lighthouse of Alexandria

• Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa

• Colosseum

• Great Wall of China

• Hagia Sophia

• Leaning Tower of Pisa

• Porcelain Tower of Nanjing

• Stonehenge

• Cairo Citadel

• Cluny Abbey

• Ely Cathedral

• Taj Mahal

To my knowledge, none of the countries were in great economic shape when these monuments were built. I would be happy to know if my understanding is incorrect. One thing for sure we were not so polarized then. We were also with the absence of omnipresent media. If we should not build such a monument because we have other pressing needs then we should stop many things:

• All beautification projects in the country

• Maintenance of remnants of British legacy that occupies significant parts of our national capital.

• Maintenance of monuments of leaders starting from Rajghat.

• ...

What is the problem with the Statue for Sardar Patel?

• Countries highest problem today is the bias that whatever Modi does has to be wrong.

• I can bet a similar statue of anybody else in a State other than Gujarat might not have created the same level of noise.

• I do not think anyone is looking at the direct and indirect employment it generates.

Disclaimer: Views expressed here are the personal viewpoint of Subramaniam P G. The views do not represent the view of any organizations that Subramaniam P G is connected.