Ahmedabad: Asserting the party’s claim to Sardar Patel’s legacy, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday accused the BJP and RSS of trying to usurp it under a “well-planned conspiracy” against national heroes and said it is laughable as the Sangh Parivar had “no contribution” in the freedom struggle.
He alleged that the BJP and RSS conspired to show that Patel and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru were against each other even though the two leaders enjoyed cordial ties and were “two sides of the same coin”.
In his opening address at the Extended Congress Working Committee meeting at the Sardar Patel Memorial here, Kharge also said that attention is being diverted from basic issues of the country by indulging in communal division.
At the same time, oligarchic monopoly is on the path of controlling the government by capturing the resources of the country, he alleged.
He said that Patel’s ideology was contrary to the ideas of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and he had even banned the organisation.
“But it is laughable that today the people of that organisation claim Sardar Patel’s legacy,” Kharge said attacking the BJP and RSS, which have often maintained that the Congress did not give Patel the respect he deserved.
The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have taken several initiatives to honour Patel, prompting the Congress to accuse them of trying to appropriate its leader’s legacy.
“An atmosphere is being created against the Congress party which has a glorious history of serving and fighting for the country for the last 140 years. This work is being done by people who have no accomplishments,” Kharge said.
They have nothing to show as their contribution to the freedom struggle, he said, targeting the BJP-RSS.
The Congress president alleged that the BJP and Sangh Parivar “people are taking over” institutions associated with Gandhi and handing them over to his ideological opponents.
“They have also taken over Sarva Seva Sangh in Varanasi. You all know what happened in Gujarat Vidyapeeth. Gandhian people and people of cooperative movement are being marginalised,” Kharge alleged.
“People with such thinking can steal Gandhiji’s glasses and stick. But they can never follow his ideals. Gandhiji’s ideological legacy is the real capital which only the Congress party has,” he said.
Kharge stressed that the Congress is taking forward the legacy of Gandhi and Patel.
“Sardar Patel Saheb lives in our hearts, lives in our thoughts. We are taking his legacy forward. We have organised this CWC meeting in Ahmedabad at Sardar Patel Museum with this thought in mind. We pay our heartfelt tributes to him,” he said.
Quoting Patel, Kharge said organisational strength is important and mere numbers without the organisation are meaningless.
He said the workers are like threads that join together to form the organisation’s tapestry and their strength, beauty and utility become remarkable.
He said during the two days of the conclave they would freely talk about the challenges before the party and work on the strategy for the future, emphasising that a clear path can emerge only through dialogue.
On Nehru-Patel relations, he said, “They (BJP-RSS) conspired to show that the relationship between Sardar Patel and Pandit Nehru was such that the two heroes were against each other.
“But the truth is that they were two sides of the same coin. Many incidents and documents are witness to their cordial relationship.”
He said that the good ties between Patel and Nehru are recorded in the documents.
“There was almost daily correspondence between the two. Nehruji used to take his advice on all matters. Nehruji had immense respect for Patel Sahab. If he had to take some advice, he himself would go to Patelji’s house. For Patelji’s convenience, CWC meetings were held at his residence,” Kharge said.
He said October 31 this year is the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Patel.
“Nehru ji used to call him (Patel) ‘founder of India’s unity’. We will celebrate his 150th birth anniversary with great enthusiasm across the country,” the Congress president said.
He said resolutions passed on fundamental rights at the Karachi Congress under his leadership are the soul of the Indian Constitution.
Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel played an important role in making B R Ambedkar a member of the Constituent Assembly, he claimed.
Kharge said even though Ambedkar admitted that the Constitution was not possible without the Congress, the RSS criticised Gandhiji, Pandit Nehru, Dr. Ambedkar and the Congress a lot.
“They burnt the effigies of the Constitution and these leaders at Ramlila Maidan. They also said that the Constitution was not inspired by Manuwadi ideals,” he alleged.
“The Modi government insulted Gandhi and Baba Saheb by removing their grand statues from Parliament premises and putting them in a corner. The Home Minister mocked Baba Saheb in the Rajya Sabha by saying that ‘you people keep saying Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar’,” Kharge alleged.
He asserted that the Congress party respects both the Constitution and the Constitution makers and knows how to protect it.
Kharge said this year is the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi becoming the Congress President.
“In December 1924, the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi Ji became the president in the Belagavi Congress session in my home state Karnataka,” he said.
Three great personalities born in the land of Gujarat made the Congress famous all over the world, he said referring to Dada Bhai Naoroji, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
All of them were the presidents of our Congress Party, he pointed out.
“Gandhi Ji gave us the weapon of truth and non-violence against injustice. This is such a strong ideological weapon that no power can stand against it,” Kharge said.
