Modi seeks iron from villages for 'Statue of Unity'

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi who was elevated as party's 2014 election committee chief only a couple of days ago, assumed his larger role and urged every village to contribute a piece of iron for the proposed statue of Saradar Vallabhbhai Patel, which will be the biggest in the world.

While addressing a All India Conference on Livestock and Dairy Development on Tuesday Modi urged farmers from across 20 states to donate a piece of iron from their farm equipment for use in building the iron statue of Sardar Patel who is also know as the 'Iron Man' of India.

"Sardar Patel was not only a proud son of Gujarat but also a pillar of unity who undertook great efforts to unify the nation," Modi said.

"I need the help of farmers. You may think Modi is asking for money but no, I am asking for emotional attachment. An attachment that will last for years," he said. "Sardar Patel was know as Iron Man and I want iron pieces from your villages. But we do not want any piece of iron, we want pieces of iron from tools which a farmer has used in farming," the chief minister added.

The iron collected will be melted and used to build the proposed 182 meter high statue of Sardar Patel near the Sardar Sarovar Dam. This statue will be bigger than the statue of Liberty and equivalent to a 60 storied building. Consultancy firm Turner Project Management India Ltd, which is Indian arm of company which built world's tallest building Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

"From October 31, which is Sardar Jayanti, till January 26, 2014, we will go to every village in the country and collect iron blocks. And we need your help in this. We need iron to commemorate the iron man and that too iron used in farming, because after all Sardar Patel was the son of a farmer," Modi requested the farmers from over 200 district across the country.