The BJP and Modi's usage of Sardar for political mileage but no support to his legacy otherwise.
The inside story of how the Congress-led Unite Progressive Alliance needed political intimidation to grant the long-standing demand of SVPMS for renovation funds is as depressing as the BJP and Modi's usage of Sardar for political mileage but no support to his legacy otherwise.
The Sardar Patel Trust, headed by veteran Janata Dal and then Congress politician, Dinsha Patel, wished to renovate the Sardar Patel memorial in Shahibaug and Karamsad in 2003. Dinsha Patel had approached then Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi, but reliable sources in the Trust confided that she refused giving any funds. This upset Patel greatly. Later, when the UPA government formed the central government and Patel was included in the Union cabinet, he approached Gandhi again, but her answer remained the same.
Soon after, he approached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for funds, through another cabinet minister Jaipal Reddy, who is also an admirer of Sardar. On Reddy's insistence, Singh approved an in-principal grant of Rs5 crore for the SP trust, but the funds were never released. "This depressed as well as enraged Patel further. At one point before the elections he was so disillusioned that he contemplated not contesting the Lok Sabha elections altogether on Congress ticket, but was egged on by supporters," the source said.
Then controversy took centrestage in the BJP over Jaswant Singh's book followed by Modi's ban - citing defamation to Sardar. "Congress was caught on the back foot, as they quietly saw the BJP hijacking Sardar as their icon. Someone then reminded Gandhi of Patel's long-pending demand seeking funds for the memorial's renovation. The grant was approved within minutes!" the source concluded with a wry grin.
To drive home the point firmly and ensure adequate political mileage, the prime minister himself announced the grant. Though a section of the media accused the Congress of sanctioning the funds because of the BJP controversy, the ruling party brushed it under the carpet, claiming it was a long-pending demand; "which is correct, but how!"
In between, Patel was driven to the corner for funds. Over a year back, he held a meeting with Gujarat's leading industrial houses, attended by Gautam Adani, Sudhir Mehta, IA Modi etc for donations. "They donated lakhs, and together, we were scraping through with the renovation," a source at the memorial said.
The renovation plan, and the need for funds, was also conveyed to Modi and the then Dy PM LK Advani when they visited Karamsad in 2003, but nothing yielded of that request.
Sonia Gandhi kicked off the election campaigning during state assembly elections in Gujarat in 2007 by visiting Sardar's house in Karamsad. Rahul visited the memorial in Shahibaug too recently before the polls.
This story might perhaps lead one to pay more attention to the legendry fallout between Sardar and Jawaharlal Nehru after Gandhi's death. History books have documented the disagreements between the two leaders, where some have even accused Nehru and his ensuing family of undermining Sardar's achievements as a result of the fallout, which, those close to Sardar feel, still continues.
Sardar's house in Delhi on Aurangzeb Road, where he resided as the deputy PM during and after Independence, has been completely demolished without a trace. The Bharat Ratna award was given much belatedly and posthumously to Sardar in 1991, along with Nehru's grandson, Rajiv Gandhi. Nehru was accorded this highest honour of the country in 1955.
The memorial in Shahibaug is the singular memorial of the great leader in the entire country. What's more, ironically, even this memorial was conceptualised by a Janata Dal CM of Gujarat, Babubhai Jashbhai Patel in Sardar's centennial birth anniversary year in 1975 by moving the Raj Bhavan to Gandhinagar from the three centuries-old building.
It doesn't end here. After the succeeding Congress government took over, it demanded the building back from the SVP Trust, claiming a building for the Sardar's memorial will be later identified. The issue reached the high court, which ruled in the Trust's favour. The memorial was finally built in March 1980.
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