The hologram of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose has been removed from the Grand Canopy of India Gate, while the fitting of the actual stone statue has started.
Sources told The Indian Express that the hologram was discontinued late last week, and for the next month and a half, fittings will be made for the actual statue, which is scheduled to be unveiled on August 15 this year.
Mysore-based sculptor
Arun Yogiraj – who made a 12-foot statue of Adi Shankaracharya in Kedarnath – gave the 30-foot statue of Bose a rope to be erected at the India Gate. A huge block of black granite stone was selected for the statue, which has been shifted to Delhi, where carving is currently underway. Work on the Bose statue is expected to be completed before the August 15 deadline, sources said, and the statue will weigh about 90 tonnes.
This was in January when the Prime Minister announced that a “statue” of Netaji would be erected under the tent at the India Gate.
Culture ministry officials said Netaji’s hologram would remain on the scene until the granite statue was completed, powered by a 30,000 lumen 4K projector. The dimensions of the hologram statue – unveiled by the prime minister on January 23 to mark Bose’s 125th birthday – were the same as the actual statue.
The sandstone camp where the statue of Netaji will be erected was built in 1936 and the statue of King George V was erected there. After independence, the statue was opposed to its central position, but it remained in this position for another two decades until it was moved. In 1968 at Coronation Park.
The installation of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the site where the statue of King George V or the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru stood has been discussed during successive governments. Many historians were of the opinion that the camp should be left empty as a reminder of the country’s past. So for more than five decades the tent has been empty, which is called ‘zero tent’.
Located at the junction of six roads, the 73-foot canopy is inspired by a sixth-century mandapa from Mahabalipuram.