A 28ft-tall black granite statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday during the unveiling of the redeveloped Central Vista, which along with Rajpath has been renamed as Kartavya Path. The statue has come up under the canopy at the India Gate under which a statue of King George V of England stood until 1968.

Modi said during his speech: “If after Independence India had followed the path of Subhasbabu, what heights would the country be at today! But unfortunately, this great hero of ours was forgotten after Independence. His ideas, even the symbols associated with them, were ignored.”

Hundreds of folk musicians and dancers performed at the event.

A collage of artworks was displayed in a ring around the statue. This included a stylised image of the flag of Nazi Germany with a black swastika in a white circle on a red flag. Adolf Hitler’s Germany was an ally of Netaji’s Azad Hind government. Netaji commanded the Free India Legion, formed with Indian prisoners of war who swore allegiance to the government in exile.

Netaji’s relatives were not present at the programme.