Modi needs to thank Nehru for creating nat’l assets: Sena

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena parliamentarian Sanjay Raut, in his weekly column Rokthok in party mouthpiece Saamana, has said that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre should be thankful to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for creating the assets which were being monetised by the current government.

The column has also criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ideological front, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Jan Sangh, saying they did not play any role in the Quit India movement, whereas Nehru was at its forefront and spent years in prison for India’s freedom.

Raut questioned whether the history of the freedom struggle was being tweaked by the current government. “India is celebrating the 75th year of freedom. In this context, the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) omitted the picture of Nehru from its poster ‘Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav’. This poster had the pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, Bhagat Singh, Rajendra Prasad, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya and Veer Savarkar. It excluded Pandit Nehru and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. However, the government should remember that the history of the freedom struggle cannot be completed by excluding these two people. This only shows the pettiness of this government,” Raut wrote.

Raut said that after independence, it was Nehru who created national assets. “These institutions were responsible for creating employment for citizens. The current government should be forever thankful to Nehru for creating these assets. However, the current government is practising the politics of revenge and bent on wiping off Nehru’s role from the Independence of India,” he added. Raut asked the Central government to learn a lesson from DMK chief and Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, who allowed the distribution of 6.5 million school bags carrying photos of political rivals former chief ministers J Jayalalitha and E Palinaswami of the AIADMK, to ensure the money spent on procurement of bags doesn’t go waste for political vendetta.

“Stalin ordered his officers not to change the bags as it would have cost ₹15 crore to the state exchequer. He said he would use that amount for fighting the Covid-19 menace,” said Raut.

BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhyay dismissed Raut’s comments, saying, “The Shiv Sena is so drunk on power that it is now always praising the Congress, that it was opposed to for years. Hence, the Saamana article does not deserve any comment.”

Sena is so drunk on power, it is always praising the Cong, that it was opposed to for years. KESHAV UPADHYAY, BJP spokesperson