The systematic destruction of India's institutions is nothing short of treason, tweeted Congress president Rahul Gandhi
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled Sardar Patel's Statue of Unity in Narmada district of Gujarat on his 143rd birth anniversary on Wednesday, Opposition parties flayed him for piggybacking the Iron Man for political reasons and not paying heed to the values Patel cherished.
Remembering Sardar Patel's virtues as a man of "steely will", whose biggest legacy was to ensure the institutions of Independent India remain strong, Congress said Modi government is doing everything to crush and undermine institutions that were built painstakingly by the great leader.
"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," tweeted Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
"Sardar Patel was a patriot, who fought for a independent, united & secular India... he was a Congressman to the core, who had no tolerance for bigotry or communalism... I salute this great son of India," added Gandhi.
Turning Modi's comment, "Is it now a crime to commemorate our leaders," on its head, Congress leader Manish Tiwari said, "The PM cannot change the fact that Sardar Patel was a leader of the Indian National Congress, and that history cannot be rewritten simply because one person wants to."
Terming it as a political stunt to divert from real problems that the country is facing, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge said, "In all states, all leaders who fought and sacrificed for the country... why did you not remember them? Why did your party, your RSS organisation not remember them for nearly 70 years? This is all a astunt."
Plunging into the debate, BSP supremo Mayawati demanded an apology from BJP and RSS for criticising her for installing statues of Dalit icons as Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
"All those in the BJP, the RSS and company need to apologise, especially to the people of the Bahujan Samaj, for terming the statues installed by the then BSP government to honour icons like Baba Saheb Ambedkar and others as wasteful expenditure," she said in a statement.
Questioning politics behind the English nomenclature as "statue of unity", Mayawati said the "foreign stamp on the construction of Patel's statue" will trouble the leader's followers."
CPI's general secretary Sudhakar Reddy asked why a bigger statue of Mahatma Gandhi has not been built.
"They (BJP) do not like Gandhi's secularism, that is why they have not built his statue and instead have gone for Patel, who had righ-wing ideas," said Reddy, also accusing the BJP for trying to appropriate Patel's legacy from Congress party since they do not have a national leader of big stature.
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 "Rahul Gandhi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh pay tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in New Delhi")
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