History is more than the Nehru-Gandhi family
The Congress has raked up a needless controversy over the Narendra Modi Government's grand observation of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's birth anniversary on October 31. The protest is ironical given that Sardar Patel was among the tallest leaders of the Congress and the freedom movement, and no one, least of all the Congress, should have had any objection to the glorification of the Iron Man. Unfortunately, the Opposition party has chosen to view the celebration through the prism of partisan politics, claiming that the Government (and the Bharatiya Janata Party) had used the Sardar's birth anniversary to belittle former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated the same day. It is true that Mr Modi did not visit Shakti Sthal, but he acknowledged Indira Gandhi in his speech at the Run for Unity programme in New Delhi and also on social media. Other senior Ministers too paid tributes to the former Prime Minister. But the Congress has been doing just what the Prime Minister has asked people to refrain from: Use ideology (and politics) to divide history. It cannot be anyone's case that Sardar Patel has been given the attention he deserved through the decades since independence. The Congress, which was in power for most of this period, observed the birth anniversary of the architect of modern India in a perfunctory manner, while going overboard in remembering the contributions of the Nehru-Gandhi family members. History books written by left-leaning and Congress-backed people routinely eulogised Jawaharlal Nehru and downplayed Sardar Patel's enormous contribution in shaping the India that we live in. All that the Modi Government has done is to shift the spotlight and do justice to a figure who deserved more than he received (not that the Sardar demanded patronage; he was too great for that). In saying that Mahatma Gandhi was “incomplete” without the Sardar, the Prime Minister deftly placed Sardar Patel in a pole position — and some can argue at a notch higher than what Nehru has occupied in public perception. The problem for the Congress is that Mr Modi has not just been able to ‘appropriate' its icons but has done so credibly. He passionately invoked Mahatma Gandhi for the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, and left the Congress in a dilemma. It was the invocation of the Mahatma that led even some prominent Congress politicians to join Mr Modi's drive, much to the annoyance of the Congress high command.
Having launched the Run for Unity programme on the Sardar's birth anniversary, the Government must not only ensure that it is sustained through the coming years but also see that tangible benefits come out of it. The younger generation has little understanding of the Sardar’s monumental contribution in stitching together a united India from disparate princely States. It has been taught that the only real political heroes are those from the Nehru-Gandhi family. This perception must change, and leaders such as Deendayal Upadhyay, Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad must be brought to the centre-stage. The process of change need not lead to the marginalisation of Nehru or Indira Gandhi. But the brazenly partisan attempts to downplay the status of the country's many tall non-Nehru-Gandhi family leaders, have to end.