Fresh data on the number of daily visitors to the Statue of Unity in the Indian state of Gujarat, surpassing the daily average to the US Statue of Liberty has sparked mixed reactions among Indians on social media.
According to recently released reports, the Statue of Unity in India has a traffic of over 15,000 visitors a day, while on the weekends it reaches 22,430.
By contrast, the 133-year-old Statue of Liberty in the United States has an average of 10,000 tourists daily.
Upon learning the news, most Twitterati described the Statue of Unity, which is the world's tallest statute at a heigh of 182 metres, as a place worth visiting and deemed it a proud achievement for the nation.
Nevertheless of the controversy, the structure is worth a visit. The #architecture
— monurrraTravels (@IndiaTravelss) December 7, 2019
has done a fantastic job.#StatueofUnity pic.twitter.com/jKHwi3LChG
A tight slap to those who said this will be the waste of money! #StatueOfUnity pic.twitter.com/I2ljV1eXBd
— Prasad Karwa (@PrasadKarwa) December 7, 2019
Congratulations to @GujaratTourism @narendramodi @CMOGuj for creating an iconic identity and a message in itself to our nation #StatueofUnity 🙏 https://t.co/OX2M2dVP4x
— Minesh Raja (@mineshraja) December 7, 2019
However, others raised a few other questions, calling on the government to concentrate on improving the economy instead:
Mitron, just see our population, within the country and outside of country..we can break all footfall records 😂😂. And again you are comparing Giant with little ones. #StatueofUnity #Indiapopulation
— Nihar Nayak (@Nayaknihar) December 7, 2019
Who gives a shit about how many people come here ? Let’s talk about the economy, women safety and a dozen other things which are more important!!#StatueofUnity
— Ashish Sahani (@jbgt90) December 7, 2019
First off, India first needs to invest in it's economy before investing in statues. Second, it doesn't matter how much footfall it is creating if it isn't generating revenue enough to pay for itself also..LOL#StatueofUnity
— parkar (@alexparkar10) December 7, 2019
India’s annual economic growth slowed to 4.5% in the July-September quarter this year, its weakest pace since 2013, putting pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speed up reforms as five rate cuts by the central bank have failed to boost investments.
