Arun Yogiraj, the young sculptor from Mysuru who had sculpted the statue of Adi Shankaracharya which was installed at Kedarnath in November 2021, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Tuesday and presented him with a statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Mr. Modi was impressed with the statue of Adi Shankaracharya and had expressed a desire to meet Arun Yogiraj. The sculptor did not stay back at Kedarnath for the installation ceremony as he had to attend to his ailing mother.
Mr. Yogiraj who presented the two-feet-tall statue, later tweeted and thanked Mysuru MP Pratap Simha indicating that the latter had arranged for the meeting.
Prime Minister Modi also tweeted: Glad to have met @yogiraj_arun today. Grateful to him for sharing this exceptional sculpture of Netaji Bose.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai congratulated Arun Yogiraj and tweeted: Our own sculptor Arun Yogiraj got to meet Hon’ble PM @narendramodi Ji today & presented him a two feet monolithic stone model of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. PM was all praise for the gesture & the beautiful sculpture. Congratulations @yogiraj_arun
An MBA from the University of Mysore, Arun Yogiraj gave up a job in a private company to carry forward the family tradition of sculpting. His father late B.S.Yogiraj Shilpi – from whom Arun learnt the art and inherited the tradition – was a recipient of many awards including the Amarashilpi Jakanachari award instituted by Karnataka Shilpa Academy and the Karnataka Rajyothsava award.