ISRO Space Application Centre to relocate Vikram Sarabhai statue outside campus for better public visibility

Desai added that the Sarabhai family members have been invited to unveil the statue on Dr Sarabhai’s birth anniversary. Son of Dr Sarabhai, Kartikeya Sarabhai, confirmed to The Indian Express that the family members intend to be present at SAC for the unveiling on August 12.

The statue was the first life-size installation of Dr Sarabhai in the city of Ahmedabad, sculpted by Padma Shri awardee Kantibhai Patel, and was first unveiled inside the campus in 2011, on Dr Sarabhai’s 92nd birth anniversary.

Padmanabh Joshi, who works with Nehru Foundation, founded by Dr Sarabhai, reminiscing of the 2011 unveiling of the statue, said, “I still remember that it was raining heavily on the date of the unveiling and Mrinalini Sarabhai and then ISRO chairperson Dr K Radhakrishnan inaugurated it.”

Joshi says that while the city has seen several busts of Dr Sarabhai at various places including at institutions founded by Dr Sarabhai such as at the campus of Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad (IIM-A), Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad etc, the 2011 statue was the first life-size installation of Dr Sarabhai in the city. “Then a second full-size statue was installed at the PRL campus within a year of the ISRO SAC campus installation,” adds Joshi.

As part of the 100th birth anniversary celebration of Dr Sarabhai, the city saw a third installation unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Sabarmati Riverfront in January 2019 — where Dr Sarabhai’s installation is seen sitting at his desk over a book — situated where his study earlier used to be situated at his residence at the Chidambaram house corner.