In what is being seen as a veiled dig at the Nehru-Gandhi family, Prime Minister Narendra Modi commended Sardar Patel’s ‘non-dynastic’ approach to politics while flagging off a “Run for Unity” here on Saturday to mark the freedom fighter’s 140th birth anniversary.
“Dynastic rule and promotion of kin have contaminated our politics. Sardar Patel’s life gives us inspiration, as the name of no person from his family is heard anywhere in Indian politics. He must have acted with great restraint,” Mr. Modi said. “We realise how he must have made a commendable effort to keep his family away from politics.”
Recalls Indira’s sacrificeHowever, Mr. Modi made it a point to pay tributes to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her death anniversary, recalling her “sacrifice” for the nation.
The 2.5-kilometre run from Vijay Chowk to India Gate at Rajpath began at 8.15 am in the presence of Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and M. Venkaiah Naidu, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and L-G Najeeb Jung. Nearly 15,000 people took part, many wearing Sardar Patel T-shirts.
Congress hits backThe Congress was quick to hit back at the Prime Minister for trying to appropriate the Sardar, reminding him that Mr. Patel was a Congress leader and the RSS was banned when he was Home Minister. The Youth Congress also put up hoardings in the capital – many close to the BJP office – saluting the Sardar for having banned the Sangh.
CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury went a step further – he tweeted extracts from DR Goyal’s book on the banning of the RSS – the BJP’s ideological parent – after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and the removal of the ban.
“They remembered Sardar Patel because they have a scarcity of leaders who, along with Mahatma Gandhi, participated in the freedom struggle… He was the deputy Prime Minister and the first Home Minister of the country,” Congress leader Anand Sharma said.
“It is important to remind Narendra Modi and the BJP that Sardar Patel was a leader of the Indian National Congress,” he said.
Mr. Modi recalled the efforts of Sardar Patel – the first Home Minister of India – for uniting the country, a reference to the integration of more than 500 princely States in the Indian Union by the Sardar. “Sardar Patel devoted his life for India’s unity. Even today I believe that if India has to rise to new heights of development, the only guarantee for this is that whatever the language, appearance, context, inspiration or ideology from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, if we want to raise Mother India to new heights, the first condition is unity, peace and harmony,” Mr. Modi said.
Scheme to link StatesHe also announced that the Centre would with assistance from the States launch a scheme – Ek Bharat Shresth Bharat (One India, Best India) – wherein each State would collaborate with one other State of India each year.
“Suppose Haryana decides that in 2016 it will collaborate with Tamil Nadu, children in Haryana’s schools will be taught 100 words of Tamil. Each child should also be taught Tamil songs. There should be Tamil film, dance and food festivals and people from Haryana should visit Tamil Nadu and vice versa. This would be a good instrument to unite the country and know other States and their languages,” Mr. Modi said.
He recalled how former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had felt a sense of India’s rich diversity during a train journey from Rameshwaram to Delhi.
Mr. Modi said that as Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation Mayor, Sardar Patel had conducted a cleanliness drive for 222 days. Incidentally, Mr. Modi had also launched the Swachh Bharat mission in 2014.
