Towering Statue of Swami Vivekananda unveiled in Bangalore

BANGALORE: Monday marked the 136th birth anniversary of India’s patriot saint Swami Vivekananda and the day celebrated as National Youth Day provided the apt occasion for a recall of events that made Bangalore India’s Science City.

A towering 9.5 feet bronze statute of Swami Vivekananda will henceforth mark the popular Ramakrishna Square at Basavanagudi in the city. The statue was unveiled on Monday.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani, who did the unveiling honours, described Swami Vivekananda as a luminous star that cast its radiant light at a time when India was passing through one of its gloomiest nights.

Vivekananda’s vision

Not many are aware that the 100-year-old Indian Institute of Science (IISc) was the brain-child of Swami Vivekananda.

Chief Minister B S Yeddiyurappa and the former chief minister S M Krishna recalled the same in their tributes to Swami Vivekananda.

Explaining the Swami Vivekananda’s role in the realisation of Indian Institute of Science, Krishna noted “While, on a voyage to England, Vivekananda expressed the need for an institution like the IISc in India to Jamshedji Tata and the Wadiyar of Mysore. It is because of Vivekananda’s vision that we have this worldclass institution in Bangalore today.” Vivekananda had actively campaigned for the establishment of the IISc by sending his disciple Sister Nivedita and three others to England to meet the British authorities, it was noted on the occasion.

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