How Artist Yogi Raj Landed the Big Job of Sculpting 280 Tonne Netaji Statue to be Unveiled by PM Modi

Central Delhi is all set to don a new look. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil the 28-ft Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose statue along with the Central Vista Avenue later today. The main sculptor of this larger than life-size statue – Arun Yogi Raj ? spoke to CNN-News18 in an exclusive interview about the design of the statue and most importantly how he landed the big job and much more.

According to the sculptor, preparations for the project began in the month of January. This was when he, along with 8-9 other artists received phone calls to attend a meeting regarding the project. They were all invited to the meeting where the seeds of the Netaji statue were sown. During the meeting, it was decided that the statue would be made of stone. This caught the attention of Arun Raj who is from a family of sculptors who have been in the business for generations.

“After I got to know that they are looking for a statue made out of stone, I instantly knew that this was my cup of tea,” Yogi Raj told CNN-News18 adding that he has been specialising in stone sculpting.

The design brief was simple – a larger than life statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose made with stone, but the task at hand was no easy one.

“There are several challenges when it comes to carving out such a large statue out of stone, that too Granite. We started off by sculpting a replica of the actual statue and eventually started work on the actual one. It is a Monolithic granite statue and granite in general is a difficult stone to sculpt,” Yogi Raj said.

The statue weighs 280 tons and involves several artists working round the clock, sometimes 24 hours’ straight to finish in time. According to the Culture Ministry, it took over 26,000 hours to sculpt the statue.

“There was a lot of pressure because of several reasons – it was going to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister himself, it was to be placed at the iconic India Gate and it was a rare statue that is an arduous task. I got the opportunity to meet the PM as well which was a great moment for me and my team. It is rare for artists to get this kind of project and I still cannot believe that me and my team pulled this off.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will later this evening, inaugurate the newly-christened Kartavya Path — a stretch from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate that will have red granite walkways with greenery all around, refurbished canals, state-wise food stalls, new amenity blocks and vending kiosks. These steps are in line with the prime minister’s second ‘Panch Pran’ for New India in Amrit Kaal: ‘remove any trace of colonial mindset’, it said.

Read all the Latest News India and Breaking News here