Sardar Patel was a loyal Congress leader, committed to party’s ideology: Priyanka Gandhi

The Modi government marks October 31 as the National Unity Day and organises a series of events in the country to commemorate Sardar Patel's birth anniversary.

Written by Abhinav Ranjan

Updated: October 31, 2019 15:08 IST

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In this environment, the RCEP will prove to be "farmers' destruction agreement", she said.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday paid rich tributes to India’s first Home minister Sardar Patel on his 144th birth anniversary. In a series of tweets, she described Sardar Patel as a loyal Congress leader who was committed to the Congress’ ideology throughout his life. Mocking the BJP for organising events to mark the day as National Unity Day, Priyanka said that it gives her immense pleasure to see even ‘enemies’ trying to accept Sardar Patel.

“Sardar Patel was a loyal Congress leader who was dedicated to Congress’ ideology. He was a close friend of Jawaharlal Nehru and against the RSS. It makes me feel happy to see the BJP making attempts to accept him and offering tributes,” she tweeted in Hindi.

“Two things are clear from the BJP’s action: The party has no own freedom fighter and almost all were linked to the Congress, and enemies of great man like Sardar Patel have to bow down to him one day,” Priyanka added.

The Modi government marks October 31 as the National Unity Day and organises a series of events in the country to commemorate Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Kevadia of Gujarat to pay tributes to Sardar Patel at the Statue of Unity. Addressing the gathering there, he first administered a unity pledge to the people. He then dedicated the decision to abrogate Article 370 at the feet of the country’s first Home minister. He said that centuries ago, India was united by Chanakya and after that Sardar Patel achieved the same feat by merging princely states with the Union of India.

Watch video: Statue of Unity completes a year; top facts

Sardar Patel is credited for the merger of over 560 princely states into the Union of India. The BJP has always said that it was Patel’s efforts that allowed the smooth merger of the princely states while Kashmir was left out because it was handled by Jawaharlal Nehru.

In Delhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that Sardar Patel’s unfulfilled dream of integrating Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country was accomplished on August 5 when Article 370 and 35A were repealed. He also flagged off the ‘Run For Unity’ here.

This article was first uploaded on October thirty-one, twenty nineteen, at six minutes past twelve in the night.