Gujarat will soon have a one more statue of Indulal Yagnik,fondly called Indu Chacha,who led the statehood movement over 60 years ago. This will be only the second statue of Indu Chacha in Gujarat since the states formation in 1950. Though the location and time has not been decided as yet,the nine-feet bronze statue will be installed on a piece of land to be provided by public sector giant ONGC since the civic authorities have turned down the request for space for the statue. The idea to install a second statue of Indu Chacha has come from Vadodara-based Shrimati Arunaben Mehta Memorial Trust,chaired by former state finance minister Sanat Mehta. Many others have already promised donations. At present,the lone statute of Indu Chacha stands near Nehru Bridge in Ahmedabad. At a recent function to unveil the four-volume reprint of Indu Chachas autobiography,which has been unavailable for the last three decades,Mehta said Chief Minister Narendra Modi did not heed his request for a new statue. I had asked the CM for a reprint of Indu Chachas out-of-print autobiography and the installation of his statue,but he was not interested. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation refused to give us a place for the statue,saying there already stands one, Mehta said. Subsequently,Mehta,who also heads ONGC Employees Mazdoor Sabha,was able to convince the company management to spare some space for the statue. Veteran journalist Prakash Shah attributed the present political disinterest in Indu Chachas legacy to the fact that he never belonged to any party. Indu Chacha was the first leader to organise a farmers union in the country. He worked with students,peasants and tribals,and took up the cause of separate statehood for Gujarat. When the state was born,he refused to be part of its new cabinet.
