After the world's largest charkha was unveiled at Delhi airport in July last year, the national capital on Sunday saw the installation of yet another giant charkha along with the inauguration a charkha museum at Palika Bazar Park in Connaught Place.
Installed by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, the 2.5-tonne charkha, an initiative to link it with tourism in the centenary year of the Champaran satyagraha, is made of high-quality chromium nickel stainless steel and is corrosion-resistant, non-magnetic and heat-resistant.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah unveiled the 12-feet tall and 25-feet long long charkha on Sunday.
KVIC chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed the initiative and in his special message said, "As Mahatma Gandhi himself believed, the charkha is a symbol of our swaraj and self-reliance. The museum and the monument for the charkha in the national capital will be a proud tribute the charkha's historic importance in our nation."
Talking about the initiative, Saxena said the charkha, like the memorial to unknown soldiers, is a memorial to the unknown rural masses who took to the demonstrated ways of self-reliance and dignity of labour following the call of the Father of the Nation.
He said the KVIC, in association with the New Delhi Municipal Council, has set up the heritage charkha museum, showcasing 50 to 100-year-old charkhas that were gifted to the commission by their owners.
With inputs from PTI
Photographs: PTI Photo, @AmitShah/Twitter.
