The government will install a statue of freedom icon Subhash Chandra Bose at India Gate in Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared this today in tweets. Until the statue is ready, the government will put up a hologram of Subhash Chandra Bose, or Netaji, at the spot. This PM Modi said, sharing an image.
The Netaji statue will be 28 feet by 6 feet. It will stand at the spot that once featured a statue of England’s King George V. The government removed that statue and shifted it in 1968.
The statue will be installed under the grand canopy near which the Amar Jawan Jyoti flickered. It flickered in order to make the countrymen remember those soldiers who have died for the country in various wars and conflicts since Independence.
“At a time when the entire nation is marking the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, I am glad to share that his grand statue, made of granite, will be installed at India Gate. This would be a symbol of India’s indebtedness to him,” the Prime Minister said in tweets.
“Till the grand statue of Netaji Bose is completed, a hologram statue of his would be present at the same place. I will unveil the hologram statue on 23rd January, Netaji’s birth anniversary,” he added.
The government also decided to name Netaji’s birthday as “Parakram Divas”. January 23 this year marks his 125th birth anniversary. Last week, the government had announced that from this year onwards, Republic Day celebrations will start on January 23, as opposed to the usual practice of starting it on January 24, to mark the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
It will end on January 30, the day on which Nathuram Godse assassinated Mahatma Gandhi. On the day, as the PM inaugurates the hologram statue at the spot, a special program will take place. This will occur to honor the winners of the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Apada Prabandhan Award – to recognize the contributions in the area of disaster management.
The announcement of a Netaji statue comes as changes to the India Gate area in the heart of the capital are already stirring up debate, controversy, and questions.
The Republic Day celebrations will take place on a refurbished Rajpath, the ceremonial road connecting India Gate to the British-built Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Respected people will put out the Amar Jawan Jyoti or eternal flame which honors soldiers. It was burning at India Gate for 50 years. The people will extinguish it and merge with the torch at the new National War Memorial inaugurated in 2019.
The flame was inaugurated by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on Republic Day in 1972 and was partly merged with the flame at the National War Memorial on Friday afternoon. The National War Memorial, situated in the vicinity – on the India Gate circle – was constructed by the Modi government in 2019.
So, this Republic Day, as the celebrations are held at the redeveloped Central Vista Avenue, its character would have changed – with the flame moving to the war memorial, and the hologram of the Bose statue making its presence felt from under the canopy where the statue will be installed.
