Around 5,000 people, including former Army chief Gen V P Malik, Chandigarh BJP President Sanjay Tandon, participated in the event held at Sukhna Lake here, BJP leader Satya Pal Jain said.
Gen Malik who made a brief presence at the event, clarified that he had come for the cause and he was not aligned with any political party.
Jain said that BJP is reaching out to people to collect iron pieces for the ambitious 'Statue of Unity' that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi wanted to build in memory of Sardar Patel.