Inaugurating the gigantic Statue of Unity on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Sardar Patel as a great unifier. Modi said there were many who thought that a diverse country like India could never remain united after Independence but Patel proved them wrong. The inauguration was turned into a grand affair, complete with a flypast by two helicopters that showered flower petals on the statue.
This is not the first time that Patel’s birth anniversary has been celebrated with such fanfare. After the BJP-led government came to power in 2014, the event is celebrated as Ekta Diwas, or Unity Day. The thinking behind it is quite clear: to appropriate the legacy of Patel, a freedom fighter who the BJP and many others feel was never given due importance by the Congress for his role in nation-building after Independence. Clearly the BJP wants to project Patel as a national icon in the same league as Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and other Congress leaders.
In fact, the BJP has been trying to build a set of national icons outside the Nehru-Gandhi family. In its thinking, which is shared by many even outside the party, most national leaders have a Congress past and this militates against their ideology. In a bid to dilute the legacy of such Congress leaders, the BJP projected party ideologue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay. Recently, the Mughalsarai railway junction in Uttar Pradesh was renamed after the Sangh leader.
But Deendayal’s apparent lack of recall value with the masses proved to be a huge disadvantage. The party is now attempting to project the late PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a national icon like Nehru. Following Vajpayee’s death, the party organised state-wide yatras to immerse his ashes in over 100 rivers across the country. Many state governments led by the BJP were quick to rename roads, buildings and welfare schemes after the first prime minister the party produced. So while Modi rightly credited Patel for unifying the country, the real purpose of the statue opening event was not lost on anyone.