Modi to unveil Kempegowda’s 108-ft statue, inaugurate Bengaluru Airport’s Terminal 2 on Friday

Modi, who will attend a public function and addressing a mass gathering later in the day, will also be flagging off south India's first 'Vande Bharat Express' between Mysuru and Chennai via Bengaluru.

Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Bengaluru on Friday to unveil the 108-feet bronze statue of city’s founder Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, and inaugurate Terminal 2 of the International Airport here, built at a cost of around Rs 5,000 crore.

Modi, who will attend a public function and addressing a mass gathering later in the day, will also be flagging off south India’s first ‘Vande Bharat Express’ between Mysuru and Chennai via Bengaluru.

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This visit of the Prime Minister is also politically significant for the ruling BJP in Karnataka, with about just about five months for the Assembly polls in the state, as the saffron party hopes to return to power, and has set a target of winning a minimum of 150 out of the 224 seats.

The party leaders hope this visit will energise cadres and mobilise public support in its favour.

Modi, who will arrive in the city on Friday morning, will pay floral tributes to the statues of saint poet Kanaka Dasa (on account of Kanaka Jayanti, his birth anniversary), and Maharshi Valmiki at the Vidhana Soudha premises here.

Both Kanaka Dasa and Valmiki are revered in the state, especially by Kuruba and Valmiki (ST) communities.

He will then leave for Kranthiveera Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) Railway Station here, where he will flag off the Mysuru-Chennai Vande Bharat Express.

This will be the fifth Vande Bharat Express train in the country and first one in south India. It is expected to enhance connectivity between the industrial hub of Chennai and the tech and start-up hub of Bengaluru and the famous tourist city of Mysuru.

At the same venue, Modi will also flag off the ‘Bharat Gaurav Kashi Yatra’ train.

Karnataka is the first state to take up this train under the Bharat Gaurav scheme in which the Government of Karnataka and Ministry of Railways are working together to send pilgrims from the state to Kashi. The pilgrims will be provided comfortable stay and guidance for visiting Kashi, Ayodhya and Prayagraj.

Later, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the Terminal 2 of Kempegowda International Airport on the outskirts of Bengaluru, built at a cost of around Rs 5,000 crore.

The terminal is expected to double the passenger handling capacity of the airport to 5-6 crore passengers per annum, from the current capacity of about 2.5 crore.

Terminal 2 is said to have been designed as a tribute to the “Garden city” of Bengaluru and the passenger experience is meant to be a “walk in the garden.” Passengers will travel through 10,000+ sq mts of green walls, hanging gardens and outdoor gardens.

According to an official release, the airport has already established a benchmark in sustainability with 100 per cent usage of renewable energy across the campus, and Terminal 2 has been created with sustainability principles woven into the design.

Based on the sustainability initiatives, Terminal 2 will be the largest terminal in the world to be pre-certified platinum rating by US GBC (green building council) prior to commencing operations, it said, the theme of ‘Naurasa’ unites all the commissioned artworks for Terminal 2. The artworks reflect the heritage and culture of Karnataka as well as the broader Indian ethos.

Overall, the design and architecture of Terminal 2 have been influenced by four guiding principles: Terminal in a garden, sustainability, technology and art and culture.

Modi will then move to a venue nearby, where he will unveil the 108 feet statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, which is the “first and tallest bronze statue of a founder of a city”, as per ‘World Book of Records’.

Called the “Statue of Prosperity”, it has been built to commemorate the contribution of Kempegowda, the founder of the city, towards the growth of Bengaluru.

The statue weighing 218 tonne ( 98 tonnes of bronze and 120 tonnes of steel) has been installed at the Kempegowda International Airport here. It has a sword weighing 4 tonnes.

The project, besides the statue, has a heritage theme park in an area covering 23 acres dedicated to the 16th century chieftain, together costing about Rs 84 crore to the government.

Kempegowda, a feudatory ruler under the erstwhile Vijayanagara Empire founded Bengaluru in 1537. He is revered, especially by the Vokkaliga community that is dominant in Old Mysuru and other parts of southern Karnataka.

Renowned sculptor and Padma Bhushan awardee Ram Vanji Sutar has designed the statue. Sutar had built the ‘Statue of Unity’ in Gujarat and the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Bengaluru’s Vidhana Soudha.

As a precursor to the unveiling, ‘Mruthike’ (sacred mud) was collected from over 22,000 locations across the state, which was mixed symbolically with the mud beneath one of the four towers of the statue today.

Twenty-one special vehicles collected the sacred mud, including villages, towns and cities during the last two weeks.

After the unveiling of the statue and theme park, the Prime Minister will attend a public function, in which lakhs of people are expected to take part. After this he will leave for Dindigul in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made across the city and the venues of the events which Modi will be attending.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has directed officials to ensure that motorists and commuters are not put to any inconvenience during the Prime Minister’s visit.