The Congress and the BJP locked horns over claiming the legacy of Sardar Patel on his 144th birth anniversary on Thursday with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra deriding the BJP of being forced to honour a Congressman as it had no freedom icons of their own. Priyanka's comments on Twitter sparked off a verbal duel with the BJP as Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered floral tributes at Patel's mammoth statue at Kevadia in Gujarat and Home Minister Amit Shah flagged off a 'Run for Unity' in Delhi.
Taking a swipe at the Congress leader, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said that the stalwarts of this Congress are Sonia Gandhi and P Chidambaram. "The Congress during the freedom struggle had everyone in its ranks who wanted to fight for India's independence. It had leaders who were vehemently opposed to Jawaharlal Nehru. Gandhi had said after Independence that the Congress should be dissolved," he said adding that the Congress were forced to respect Patel.
Describing Sardar Patel as a stalwart of the Congress who was strongly opposed to the RSS, party leader Priyanka said she felt happy seeing the BJP's attempts to "adopt" the "Iron Man of India" as it showed that the saffron party did not have a great freedom fighter of its own. In a series of tweets in Hindi, Priyanka said: "Sardar Patel was a stalwart of the Congress who was devoted to the ideology of the party".
"He was a close companion of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of the country, and was strongly opposed to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the BJP", she said. "Today, seeing the BJP trying to adopt him and pay tributes to him gives a lot of happiness, because two things are clear from this action of the BJP: 1. It has no great freedom fighter of its own. Almost all of them were associated with the Congress. 2. Even enemies have to bow before great men like Sardar Patel one day," she added.