Indian sculptors in the eye of the storm - in pictures

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  They are the artisans state governments and politicians turn when they want to build a larger-than-life statue to honour a figure in the Indian pantheon.

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  Over the decades, Ram has created some 200 statues, mostly in bronze.

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  For critics, these statues are part of the “sectarian” Hindu nationalist agenda of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which involves projecting Hindu historical personalities.

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  Ram waxes philosophical about the criticism. “The same things were said about earlier landmark buildings. The Eiffel Tower was criticised. If people had worried about how much the Taj Mahal would cost, it would never have been built,” he says.

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  Work on Shivaji, yet to begin because the design has only just been approved by the Maharashtra government, will require 2,000 people working around the clock to finish it by the 2019 deadline.

Father and son sculptors Ram and Anil Sutar thrive on size. Gigantism is their forte. But in India, bigger statues can lead to greater criticism. All photos by Mustafa Quraishi for The National