Lonavla: His vow of silence was as eloquent as his rant against the government on Jan Lokpal Bill. Capturing that silent defiance, a wax statue of Anna Hazare was unveiled at Varsoli village on the outskirts of this hill station, around 110 km from Mumbai, on Saturday.
The tribute in wax to the crusader is complete with his own Gandhi cap, the one he had worn during his fast at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, his own clothes, spectacles and, of course, the unmistakable resoluteness in his eyes.
The statue, commissioned by the Celebrity Wax Museum, was unveiled on November 19 to coincide with the death anniversary of anti-graft campaigner's mother Laxmibai.
Before the unveiling, the statue was taken to Ralegan Siddhi in adjoining Ahmednagar district to be shown to Hazare (74), who smilingly looked at the statue and touched it several times out of curiosity, says Sunil Kandalloor, the artist who created it.
"Anna donated his trademark Gandhi cap and his clothes for the statue. Anna had worn this cap during his hunger strike for the Jan Lokpal Bill in Delhi. This cap has great heritage value and would be a treasured possession for the museum," says Kandalloor.
Asked from where the idea of making Hazare's statue came, he said several visitors to the museum had suggested having a wax replica of the Gandhian.
"Anna has created widespread awareness about the menace of corruption. He is the real hero of the masses," he said.
Kandalloor is all praise for cooperation from Hazare, who he said wanted his statue to be in a sitting position.
"When I ask Anna what type of statue he wants, he told me that he would like it to be in sitting position. I took many photographs and then captured his exact expression on the statue," Kandalloor said.
It took 25 days of dedicated work, 25 kg of wax and Rs 1.5 lakh to craft the statue, which takes a pride of place in the museum that also has wax replicas of Chhatrapati Shivaji, BR Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi, Charlie Chaplin and Michael Jackson among others.
The museum will unveil a statue of former India cricket skipper Kapil Dev at Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai on November 25.
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