Let’s put things in perspective with a towering Gandhi statue

Subhas Chandra Bose’s statue at India Gate in New Delhi was inaugurated last week, replacing the earlier statue of George V. I always wanted that space occupied by a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, something that never happened.

- SWAMINATHAN S ANKLESARIA AIYAR

The BJP is excellent at messaging. This down plays the role of the Congress in Indian independence and highlights that of Bose, the only top non congress leader of the Independence movement.

Okay, let us have a Bose statue. But let us also have a much bigger Gandhi statue to put in perspective the contribution of the two. There is a large empty space today between the Bose statue and the National Stadium. Congress and other parties should pledge to construct an Independence Monument in that space.

This monument should have a towering statue of Gandhi, symbolising his outstanding leadership of the Independence movement. It should be surrounded by smaller statues of other heroes of the Independence movement from every state, to inform future generations of the breadth of that movement. By all means include Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of BJP’s forerunner — this should be a national monument, not one serving narrow political ends. Let the monument include scrolled tablets relating major events of the Independence movement — the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the launch of Gandhi’s satyagraha, the Dandi Salt March, and the Quit India Movement.