ITANAGAR, Nov 3: The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the ‘Statue of Unity’ in Gujarat had been built to divide the nation.
“As many as 75,000 people and 72 tribal villages have been affected by the Statue of Unity. Land and farms of the Adivasis have been taken away to build the statue,” said APCC vice-president Minkir Lollen.
He said the Modi-led BJP government jailed the tribal protesters and activists who protested for their rights during the unveiling ceremony of the statue.
“The soul of Sardar Patel would never be happy to build a statue of his own, displacing so many people,” Lollen said.
“Today Modi is proud of himself for unveiling Sadar Patel’s statue. But there was a time when the BJP had protested against the naming of the Ahmedabad airport after Sardar Vallabhai Patel by waiving black flags,” he said.
Stating that the statue need not necessarily be the tallest in the world to honour Sardar Patel, the APCC vice president said, “Modi spent Rs 3000 crore to build the statue, which will continue to remind the false promises made by him.”
