NEW DELHI: Miffed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to appropriate the legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Congress on Wednesday claimed that India’s Iron Man was always “a Congressi”.
“Sardar Patel was a patriot, who fought for an independent, united and secular India. A man with a steely will, tempered by compassion, he was a Congressman to the core, who had no tolerance for bigotry or communalism. On his birth anniversary, I salute this great son of India,” Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
Slamming the government over its double standards, Rahul tweeted, “Ironic that a statue of Sardar Patel is being inaugurated, but every institution he helped build is being smashed. The systematic destruction of India’s institutions is nothing short of treason.”
“Sardar was always a Congressi,” party spokesperson Manish Tewari reiterated at an AICC briefing.
The grand old party also observed the martyrdom of former prime minister Indira Gandhi on Wednesday. It hailed her as a popular leader not only of the country but Asia and remembered the historic creation of Bangladesh in 1971 under her leadership.
Rahul, Sonia Gandhi and former PM Mamohan Singh paid tributes to Indira at her memorial, Shakti Sthal.
The Congress, which was upset over the government’s neglect of Indira, taunted the BJP saying it was celebrating Patel as the ruling party had no national icons of its own.
“It is good that they are celebrating Sardar Patel, but it would be important to remember what he said about the RSS, BJP’s ideological mentor,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, referring to a letter that the then home minister wrote to Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee on July 18, 1948, holding the RSS ideologically responsible for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.