This refers to the reports “Modi, PM spar over Iron Man” (October 30). It is disturbing to see Mr Narendra Modi scoring self-goals by speaking without checking facts.
He had claimed that Jawaharlal Nehru did not attend the funeral of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, which the Congress immediately refuted by referring to a video recording of Sardar Patel's funeral. Mr Modi's clarification that he was misquoted, is meaningless.
While sharing the dais with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the opening ceremony of Shri Sardar Vallabhbhai Smruti Smarak, he should have refrained from saying that the country's destiny would have been different if Sardar Patel had become the first Prime Minister of India. In his ‘Hunkaar Rally' at Patna, he said that Alexander had come up to the river Ganga and that Chandragupta was of the Gupta dynasty. This provided Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar fodder to ridicule him. These blunders are embarrassing for the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.