The extended session of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in Ahmedabad passed a resolution that the party will follow Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s example. The CWC is the highest decision-making body of the Congress party.
Patel, also known as the Iron Man of India, stood up against the oppression of the British, fought for the rights of workers and farmers and rejected communal forces after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination in 1948, the party said.
Patel, the first deputy prime minister and home minister of India, fought for an India where everyone had fundamental rights and freedoms, it said.
“That the Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and proponent of social justice, our leader Rahul Gandhi as also millions of Congress workers are even more determined today to walk on the ‘Nyaypath‘ in our struggle for protection of the Constitution as also our democracy. The path shown by Sardar Patel is this very path,” read the resolution.
“We stand committed to walk on the path lit by Sardar Patel, imbibe his thoughts and reshape our present and future with his vision and thoughts, This would be the fittest tribute to the life work of iron man, Sardar Patel,” the Congress party’s resolution said.
Apart from the CWC session, Ahmedabad will also host the 84th National Convention of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) on April 8-9. This is the first time in 64 years that the event is being held in Gujarat – a state the party has not won in 30 years.
Why Patel Matters?
The Congress resolution on Patel assumes significance for more reasons than one. Congress leader Patel was born in Gujarat’s Nadiad region in October 1875.
Moreover, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have in the recent past taken several initiatives to honour Patel, prompting the Congress to accuse them of trying to appropriate its leader’s legacy.
Modi has often invoked ‘injustice’ to Gujarati asmita (pride of identity) by attacking the Congress for allegedly ignoring Patel’s legacy. He has often charged the Congress with denying Sardar Patel the prime ministership in favour of Jawaharlal Nehru and undermining his contribution to the formation of the Union of India.
Ever since it came to power at the Centre in 2014, the BJP has taken several steps to put renewed focus on Patel’s legacy. Months after the first Modi government was sworn in, the Union government declared October 31 as National Unity Day to “celebrate Sardar Patel’s efforts to integrate the various erstwhile princely states” within the Indian Union. Then, in 2018, the 182-metre high statue of Sardar Patel—the world’s tallest statue—was installed near Sardar Sarovar Dam, and the Kevadia town, near which it’s located, was renamed Ekta Nagar in Gujarat
Kharge Targets BJP
Earlier in the day, asserting the Congress party’s claim to Sardar Patel’s legacy, party president Mallikarjun Kharge 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.
Kharge alleged that the BJP and the 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”. 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,” Kharge said in his opening address at the Extended Congress Working Committee meeting at the Sardar Patel Memorial in Ahmedabad.
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.
“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.
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.
‘Three Great Gujaratis’
Kharge said three great personalities born in Gujarat made the Congress famous all over the world: 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.
