Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Statue of Unity - Himachal BJP collect iron and Soil from 20,118 villages across the state for Patel statue - Grewal

Shimla, 22 November 2013 - BJP Kisan Morcha All India Secretary and Parbhari Himachal Pradesh Sukhminderpal Singh Grewal said that in an attempt to make the construction of the Sardar Patel statue in Gujarat a movement, the Himachal Pradesh State unit of Bharatiya Janata Party also declared it had formed a coordination committee for an iron collection drive. In a press conference here today, Grewal said that the former BJP party president and senior MLA Jairam Thakur, will head the coordination committee. He said that efforts were being made to spread the party cadre network to all 20,118 villages and 3243 panchayats of the Himachal State. The Himachal State Parbhari said that all BJP Leaders and workers will collect iron and soil from all Himachal villages and give it "the statue" a Himachal flavour. We will also collect sacred soil from all the famous temples and religious places of our hill State. Grewal said that the process to make the construction a movement began after the Bhoomi Pujan for the memorial on October 31, the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel, by our senior BJP party leader L.K. Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. It was Narendra Modi who conceived this dream project as a tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. “RUN FOR UNITY” Sukhminderpal Singh Grewal said that the hill State Himachal will also organise a “Run for Unity" in all the district headquarters on December 15, the death anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel under the supervision of Jairam Thakur. He said that the state co-ordinator Jairam Thakur had also released the list of 12 district coordinators and a 21-member State-wide list of team managers. National Secretary Grewal said that there will be a joint workshop for team members from Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Punjab at Chandigarh on December 9. Grewal said that the 182-meter statue with a 58-metre pedestal has been named “Statue of Unity” and will be the tallest in the world. He said that it will be installed on a river island facing the famous Narmada Dam near Bharuch in Gujarat. The Rs. 2500-crore project will take at least about four years to complete. Grewal said that there will be a nationwide campaign to collect iron pieces from more than 6.5 lakh villages of the country, said the BJP.