(Image source from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
The Statue of Unity, honoring Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, has turned to be a worldwide topic of dialogue for being the tallest statue in the world, exceeding several prominent statues across the globe, including the Statue of Liberty.
While the inauguration of Sardar Patel's statue came as proud moment for the country, and amid reports that more than a lakh visitors went to see it in the first 11 days since it was open, Trevor Noah, host of 'The Daily Show', an American television program ridiculed the statue in a section on his broadcast.
Trevor Noah on Monday spoke about the Statue of Unity during his show in which he questioned India's intentions of building a $400 million (Rs 2,989 crore) statue. He went onto 'suggest' that it would have been better to build the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, by giving a bizarre reason that 'he was much skinnier, which would have reduced the cost by half':
"$400 million.. for a statue? You realize for that amount of money you can fly the caravan back from Sweden first class...What are you doing India? I am not saying that India shouldn't build statues, but not build one of like Gandhi. He is also famous and he was much skinnier… Then they could have saved the materials, same height, half the cost," Noah said.
#Memes are masquerading.@Trevornoah on @TheDailyShow questions India's "statue of unity".
— Younis Sideeq Wani (@younissideeq) November 11, 2018
"Why not build one of #Gandhi's" instead of #SardarPatel.@realDonaldTrump using #HBO's @GameOfThrones memes for "economic sanctions" on #Iran.
WatchTillEnd#Trump#India #CaravanInvasion pic.twitter.com/q7rfhJii6i
Interestingly, his remarks on the Statue of Unity were not interpreted in good taste by the netizens on social media, as they ended up reminding the 'The Daily Show' host regarding the chronicle and significance behind the Statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for India.
Some of the comments Tweetaratis:
@Trevornoah Just saw you trash-talking about Statue of Unity. You poor thing, you don't even know the significance of Sardar Patel. You never knew anyone beyond Gandhi because you were busy cracking poor jokes just to make idiots who watches your show laugh. You'll reach nowhere.
— Karan Bhogle (@youcallmekb) November 13, 2018
@Trevornoah You can't understand the contribution of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. So please shut-up ur mouth. Statue of Unity is not only a statue but it is Pride of India. You looks really illiterate person
— Abhishek Singh