Cong decries ‘insult’ to Sardar Patel
The Congress on Wednesday decried removal of the name of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel from a stadium in Ahmedabad inaugurated in 1983 under the Congress regime and PM Modi putting his own name in his place.
Party spokesperson Pawan Khera told a press conference here it is not only unprecedented but an insult for the second time to two great sons of Gujarat and great international icons — Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel.
He pointed out how the Khadi calendar traditionally carried the picture of Mahatma Gandhi with his Charkha, but Modi removed Mahatma in 2017 and put his own picture. On Wednesday, the same insult was inflicted on Sardar Patel, he said.
“We understand the acrimony, we understand the hatred, you have towards these great icons, who chose the Congress route, who rejected the RSS, who rejected the RSS ideology. They chose the beautiful idea of India, which they spread and India is proud of that idea, the world is proud of that idea," Khera said.
He said: "We also know how the book against Sardar Patel written by HV Sheshadri, ‘The tragic story of Partition’, was distributed free in the RSS headquarters; we know how much you hate Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
"We are proud of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for several things he has done, one of them is banning the RSS. Today, you have avenged that act, that great act of that great person called Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. History may not remember you for what you have done good for the country because you haven’t done much, history will not forgive you for what you have done today."
The Congress spokesman said it is a sad story of what is wrong with today’s India under the Modi government. "You don’t have something of your own, you try and disrupt the great flow of Indian civilisation by imposing your ideas, by imposing your culture, which I am sorry, got rejected time and again by India historically."
He said it is a clear attempt to whitewash the history, to change history, to rewrite history, to try and make people forget that there existed some great men and women in this country, two of them being Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.