New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday mocked the central government's vision of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat'. He claimed that the Statue of Equality in Hyderabad, Telangana was made by a Chinese firm. "Statue of Equality is Made in China. 'New India' is China-nirbhar?" the Congress MP from Wayanad tweeted.
Rahul Gandhi's comments comes after some media reports claimed that the Rs135 crore statute of Ramanujacharya was made by China's Aersun Corporation. The reports also said that the contract for erecting the statue was given to the company in 2015.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 5 had inaugurated the Statue of Equality to commemorate the 11th-century Bhakti Saint Sri Ramanujacharya.
Built at a cost of Rs 135 crore, the seated statue of the saint is 216 feet tall. The material that has gone into making the statue is 'panchaloha', a combination of five metals: gold, silver, copper, brass, and zinc.
The statue in sitting position is considered to be the second tallest in the world. It is mounted on a 54-feet high base building, named 'Bhadra Vedi', and houses a Vedic digital library and research centre, ancient Indian texts, a theatre, an educational gallery showcasing several works of Sri Ramanujacharya.
Recently, Rahul Gandhi had attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party in Parliament over its foreign policies. He held the BJP government at the Centre responsible for allowing China-Pakistan relations to bolster.
"The strategic goal of India should have been to keep China and Pakistan separate. But what you have done is to bring them together. Do not underestimate what we are facing. This is a serious threat to India," Rahul Gandhi had said in his speech to the parliament.