The scathing comments were made on the occasion of the 142nd birth anniversary of Patel, while the PM flagged off the 'Run for Unity' event, organised in the memory of the country's first home minister.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi blamed the previous governments on Tuesday for ignoring the contributions of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in unifying the country after Independence, for which he earned the title 'Iron Man of India'.
The scathing comments were made on the occasion of the 142nd birth anniversary of Patel, while the PM flagged off the 'Run for Unity' event, organised in the memory of the country's first home minister.
Taking a dig at the Congress without naming the party, Modi said: "There have been attempts to run down Patel, to ensure that his contributions are forgotten. But Sardar is Sardar, whether any government or any party recognises his contribution or not. The nation and the youth will not forget him."
He said India stood united today due to the statesmanship and political acumen of Patel, and asserted that that country needed to remain united as diversity was India's strength. At the beginning of his speech, Modi also paid tribute to former Prime Minister, late Indira Gandhi, on her death anniversary.
The Central government observes October 31 as the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas to commemorate Patel's birth anniversary."The youth of India respects him and his contribution towards building of our nation," the Prime Minister said.
"The British wished India to be disintegrated into smaller states. But Patel used all means and succeeded in uniting all princely states into a single nation in a short span of time," he said.
Earlier, President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Modi, and Home Minister Rajnath Singh paid floral tributes to Patel on the Parliament Street, where his statues was installed.
Paying a tribute to Patel, Home Minister Singh said that apart from uniting the nation, Patel also succeeded in facing the challenge of communal violence, which broke out soon after Independence.
Meanwhile, the 'Run for Unity', which began from the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, saw participation of a large number of people, including sports personalities such as Sardar Singh, Deepa Karmakar, Suresh Raina, and Karnam Malleswari.
Several Union ministers, including Ananth Kumar, Vijay Goel, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, and Hardeep Puri, and senior officials participated in the event.
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