India on Wednesday inaugurated the world’s tallest statue, a $400-million effigy of independence hero Vallabhbhai Patel that towers nearly twice the height of New York’s Statue of Liberty.

The 182-metre (597-ft) steel and bronze “Statue of Unity”, in the prime minister’s western home state of Gujarat, is part of his Hindu nationalist party’s efforts to re-brand what it calls “forgotten” leaders.

Patel wanted India to be a forceful, strong, sensitive, vigilant and accommodative nation, and we’re working towards that,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at Wednesday’s ceremony.
 
Modi, who ordered the statue built on the Narmada river when he was Gujarat chief minister, said last year there had been efforts to “belittle” or “remove from history” the contributions of Patel, who helped unite India’s 562 princely states as the first home, or interior, minister.