New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil a grand 28-feet statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose near India Gate on Thursday evening as Azad Hind Fauj’s iconic song “Kadam Kadam Badhaye Jaa” will play to mark the occasion.
The jet black granite statue will be positioned under the Canopy near India Gate.
It has been carved from a monolithic block of granite weighing 280 MT. After 26,000 man-hours of intense artistic endeavor, the granite monolith was chiseled to produce a statue weighing 65 MT, the Ministry of Culture said in a statement.
The statue is completely hand sculpted using traditional techniques and modern tools by a team led by Arun Yogiraj.
The statue of Bose will be installed at the same place where a hologram statue of Netaji was unveiled earlier this year on Parakram Diwas on January 23 by the Prime Minister to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji.
Modi had on January 21 assured that a grand statue of Netaji made of granite will be installed at India Gate as a symbol of the nation’s indebtedness to him.
A 100 feet long truck with 140 wheels was specially designed for this monolithic granite stone to travel the 1,665-km from Khammam in Telangana to New Delhi.
The Prime Minister’s arrival at the canopy for the unveiling of the statue of Netaji will be heralded with traditional Manipuri Shankh Vadayam and Kerala’s traditional Panch Vadayam and Chanda, the Ministry of Culture said.
The unveiling of the statue of Netaji would be accompanied by the tune of “Kadam Kadam Badhaye Jaa”, the traditional INA song.
A cultural festival by 500 dancers drawn from all parts of the country, would also be showcased on the Kartvya Path.
A glimpse of the same would be shown to the Prime Minster on the step Amphitheatre near India Gate by around 30 artists who will perform tribal folk art forms such as Sambalpuri, Panthi, Kalbelia, Kargam, and dummy horse with live music by Nashik Dhol Pathik Tasha and Drums.
The “Mangalgaan” penned by Padma Bhushan Pt. Shrikrishna Ratanjankarji on the auspicious occasion of the 1st Independence Day of India in 1947 will be presented by Pt. SuhasVashi along with a team of singers and musicians. Ashish Keskar is the music director for the presentation.
The festival at Kartvya path would commence at 08.45 PM after the main function and will also continue on Sep 9, 11, and 11 from 7 to 9 pm.
A special 10-minute Drone Show on Netaji’s life would be projected at India Gate at 08.00 PM on all three days. Both the cultural festival and the drone show would be open to the public with free entry.
