LIVE: Narendra Modi lays foundation stone of Sardar Patel statue

Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today laid the foundation stone of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel's statue in Bharuch of GujaratThis statue will be 597 feet tall and will directly face the Narmada dam.Senior BJP laeder L K Advani shared the dais with Narendra Modi on this occasion.Here we are giving you minute-by-minue update of this ceremony: 12:29- Modi concludes his speech with chants of "Sardar Patel amar rahein"12:28- Modi:Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.12:27- Modi:On 15th December there is a Run for Unity programme. Let us run for unity.12:26-Modi:I am thankful to Advani ji, he has been really attached to Sardar Patel. And today we have got his blessing12:25-Modi:You come for the inauguration, I wont even come if you do not want me but please do it at the earliest.12:24-Modi:There cannot be any politics on this.I am sure these voices will go to PM. He will realize that nation is bigger than parties.12:23-Modi: whenever I enquired with the PM regarding the gates, he would say- "is it not done? It's a good idea." Now you tell me what should I do?12:22- Modi:All Centre has to do is call a meeting and say gates can be installed. But for months nothing is happening. Reason is clear.12:20-Modi:Gates have to be installed on Sardar Sarovar Dam.All 3 states of Maharashtra, MP & BJP have finished the rehabilitation work.12:18-Modi: I am saying it with sadness..and I also know my words are heard by PM, his team and his boss' team12:16-Modi: We have to integrate the people of India. We have to integrate every Shakti. Dharti is Gujarat's but dream belongs to India.12:15- Modi: We'll employ best of the experts and companies in the construction of this statue.12:14-Modi:This will be a Prerna Tirth for the nation and will become a Pravasan Dham. We will integrate our people with this.12:12-Modi- After 5o years when people will search digital records, they will find the name of their 'Mukhiya' and the contribution of his village.12:11- Modi- This statue will have metal contribution from farmers of all villages and it will be recoded digitally.12:10-Modi:Our society needs to be conscious of its history and through this statue of unity we want to give a perspective to our future12:09-Modi:We want our future to be integrated with history & that is our effort.12:08-Modi: Then why this difficulty for Sardar Patel? Earlier govt ads ignored Patel but today there have been advertisements. This is the Gujarat effect.12:06-Modi: We built Mahatma Mandir but that time did anyone challenge me? Did anyone say Gandhi ji was never in BJP?12:05-Modi:Our progress is not possible without Shanti, Ekta and Sadbhavana. Can the milk of a mother be divided?12:03- Modi: Party can be any, our Dil must be for the nation and for every great person of our nation12:02-Modi:Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar is like a God for the Dalit community. No one asks which party he belonged to. His life inspires us12:01-Modi:PM said a very right thing. He said- Sardar Patel was truly secular. We also say we need Sardar Patel's secularism, not secularism of votebank.12:00-Modi:Mahatma Gandhi fought untouchability all his life but now there is political untouchability and we need to end this.11:59-Modi:To associate Sardar Patel with any party would be great injustice.11:58-Modi:Were Maharana Pratap, Rajguru, Sukhdev BJP members? Will we only remember BJP members? Dal se Bada Desh Hota Hai.11:56-Modi: After Chanakya, if there was a Maha Purush who integrated the nation then he was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.11:54- Modi:It is important to do our global positioning. We need to emerge as a force in the world and there are various ways of doing it.11:53-Modi:When Vajpayee ji did the nuclear tests the world had to take note of India.11:52-Modi:It was when Vajpayee ji became PM that this 5 PM tradition was broken and it was presented in the morning11:51- Modi: Before Vajpayee govt took over, even the Budget was presented at 5 in the evening. Did anyone think why? Because when it was 5 here it was around 11:30 in UK.11:50-Modi: Even after so many years of Independence, we are still having colonial mindset.11:49- Modi: People from Rajasthan, they may be in BJP or Congress but they tell me- Modi ji aapne Narmada Paani de diya. This was Sardar Patel's dream.11:48- Modi: It was dream of Sardar Patel that this Sardar Sarovar dam and its water reachesGujarat and other states.11:47: Modi: In states like Gujarat and Rajasthan water is just invaluable.11:45- Modi: Garudeshwar will be a new Taluka for the people of newly created Narmada district.11:43-Modi-This was a dream for many years. Many people added new colour to this dream, they gave suggestions.11:42- Modi: I thank all those who inspired me to come up with this idea of installing the statue of Sardar Patel.11:41- Modi begins is speech11:40 - Advani:Once again I congratulate & thank Narendra Bhai11:39- Advani- People go to see Statue of Liberty but when they will know Narendra Modi has built this Statue of Unity, everyone will be proud.11:38-Advani: Sardar Patel was a brilliant student as it is mentioned in the book that I'm going to launch today.11:33-Advani:I congratulate Narendra Modi, who the BJP has declared as their PM candidate. I am sharing my joy & pride on this announcement.11:27-Advani:The Sankalp Narendra Modi has done, this should be like no other in the world11:25-Advani:What no leader was able to do, Sardar Patel did11:23-Advani:Sardar Patel died in 1950 but in this short span from 1947-1950 he managed everything so well & integrated prince states11:21-Advani:Read the two books by VP Menon and you will know the greatness of Sardar Patel:11:19-Advani:Sardar Patel told the Nizam- the atrocities by Razakars will not be tolerated by Independent India11:17-Advani:If Sardar Patel was not there, India would be badly divided into pieces. There would not be two but many divisions11:15- Advani: There was even a Naval uprising and the British decided that we are going now: 11:13- Advani: freedom struggle was fought even by those who were not necessarily supporting the Congress that time11:10- Advani:When the British left India, one of the causes was the constant struggle under Gandhi ji and Sardar Patel and other leaders11:05- Advani: My relation with Gujarat began from the time I was very young and that too during colonial period:11:02- Modi and advani reach the dais.