The United Kingdom has unveiled its first statue to honor more than 1.3 million Indian soldiers who fought for Britain in the First World War.
The huge ‘Lions of the Great War’ statue was unveiled in Smethwick, Sandwell on Sunday.
The 10-feet high bronze statue of a First World War Sikh soldier marks 100 years since the end of the first world war in 1918. The statue is sculptured by internationally renowned Black Country artist Luke Perry, who is also behind the idea of this sculpture.
Guru Nanak Gurudwara Smethwick, which funded the construction of the statue said in its Facebook post, “The Lions of the Great War statue, which stands on a six-foot granite plinth, is the first full statue of a South Asian First World War soldier in the UK.”
The gurdwara donated around 20,000 pounds for the sculpture, with the council investing in creating the public space with seating area and illuminating to house the new monument.
“We are very proud to be bringing this memorial to Smethwick High Street to honor the sacrifice of all those brave men who traveled thousands of miles to fight for a country that wasn’t their own,” said Jatinder Singh, President of Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick.
https://www.facebook.com/sandwellcouncil/videos/2187039831512768/?t=0
The statue stands on a granite plinth with inscriptions naming the regiments in which South Asian soldiers served during the Great War.
“When I realized more than 1.5 million Indian soldiers had been sent to World War I, I just could not understand why their contribution had been ignored for so long in this country,” said Luke Perry.
“Indians of all religions fought in the war and we are such a diverse multicultural country in part because of the sacrifices they made, so this is a wonderful statement which will be perfect for the Commonwealth Games and everything they represent,” he said, in reference to the 2020 Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham, just west of Smethwick.
The unveiling of the statue comes just a week before Armistice Day on November 11, marked annually in an elaborate wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in central London led by Queen Elizabeth II, also other smaller events around the country.
British Prime Minister Theresa May had paid tribute to the Indian soldiers earlier this week in the House of Commons, who had fought as part of the British Indian Army.
“Over 74,000 soldiers came from undivided India and lost of their lives; 11 of them won the Victoria Cross for their outstanding bravery and played a crucial role in the war across multiple continents,” she said on Wednesday when she also pledged to adorn a khadi poppy in honor of these soldiers.
The Poppy Appeal is a yearly fundraising campaign for war veterans held in an initiate to Armistice Day, with politicians and members of the public across the country wearing a cloth-based poppy on their lapels as a gestural of respect for the war dead.
A khadi version of the poppy was launched by Indian-origin peer Lord Jitesh Gadhia and the Royal British Legion for the first time this year as an “evocative symbol” of undivided India’s contribution to the war effort.
-Sowmya Sangam
