As India gears up to unveil the world’s tallest statue, the ‘Statue of unity’, which stands spirited at a height of 182 metres, on October 31, it is imperative to familiarize ourselves with the man behind the astounding craftsmanship. Ram Vanji Sutar, a name synonymic to perfection, carries the weight of over 50 monumental sculptures on his shoulders during the span of forty years of his gleaming career. His latest work includes this mammoth piece of art in Gujarat.
Ram Vanji Sutar, born 19 February 1925, is the recipient of Padma Bhushan in 2016 and Padma Shri in 1999 for his contribution in the field of arts. In October 2018, Ram Vanji Sutar received the Tagore Award for the cultural harmony of 2016.
Sutar, was born in the village of Gondur, in Dhulia district of Maharashtra and got married to Pramila in 1952. Like him, their only son Anil Sutar (born in 1957) is also a sculptor. His guru Shriram Krishna Joshi encouraged him to foray into the world of stones and sculptures. “It all started with a dream,” says the frail veteran. “I dreamt that I needed to be a sculptor. I just followed that dream,” he said.
His ‘Chambal Symbolic monument’, at the Gandhi Sagar Dama, a 45-ft tall monolithic art piece of a mother and her two children, carved out of a single stone, went on to become the turning point in his career. Prior to this, Sutar had been partaking in the restoration of several sculptures in the Ellora and Ajanta caves.
Statue of Unity, India’s ratification to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s contributions and the Indian freedom struggle, will be the world’s tallest statue, twice the size of the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Unity will be unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 31, which also marks the 143rd birth anniversary of Sardar Patel, the Ironman of India. The world’s tallest statue dedicated to independent India’s first Home Minister stands at 182 meters (597 feet) tall.
As almost all Indian look forward to celebrating India’s heartwarming gesture to recognise Sardar Vallabhbai Patel’s contributions and embrace the world’s tallest statue, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, compelled by his habit, had tried using this astounding piece of art to target Prime Minister Modi, not once but several times in the past.
Back in October 2015, Outlook had reported that L&T had outsourced the work of constructing the statue to a Chinese Foundry. L&T had clarified even then that the entire statue would be built in India. Recently, while delivering a speech in Chitrakoot, Rahul, the master-blaster of lies, had repeated a debunked lie, stating that the statue was ‘made in China’. Back in September 2017, too, Rahul Gandhi repeated the debunked lie and claimed that this move would end up providing jobs in China and not India. Then too, we had reiterated that this was a blatant lie.
