Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday announced that the party has come to Gujarat to get “inspiration and strength” and said that the party will take Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s legacy forward, as he attempted to reconnect the Congress with Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s strongest bastion, dispelling the ruling party’s narrative of friction between Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru.
“Today we have come here again to take inspiration and strength,” he said during the inaugural speech at the Congress Working Committee meeting, setting the stage for the All India Congress Committee (AICC) session on Wednesday, which is being held in Gujarat after a gap of over six decades.
“Gujarat is the top state from which Congress has got the maximum strength in its 140-year history. Today we have come here again to take inspiration and strength. Our real strength is the unity and integrity of our country and the ideology of social justice. But today to take that ideology forward it is necessary that we first strengthen ourselves. Strengthen our organisation,” he said.
Paying tributes to Patel, Kharge said, “Sardar Patel Saheb lives in our hearts, lives in our thoughts. We are taking his legacy forward. We have organised this meeting of CWC in Sardar Patel Museum in Ahmedabad with this thought in mind. We pay our heartfelt tribute to him.”
Hitting out at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and BJP, Kharge said, “An atmosphere is being created against the Congress which has a glorious history of serving and fighting for the country for 140 years. This work is being done by those people who have nothing to show as their achievements. They have nothing to show as their contribution in the freedom struggle.”
“They conspire to show the relationship between Sardar Patel and Pandit Nehru as if both the heroes were against each other. Whereas the truth is that they were two sides of the same coin. Many events and documents are witness to their cordial relationship,” he added.
“Sardar Patel Saheb lives in our hearts, lives in our thoughts. We are taking his legacy forward. We have organised this meeting of CWC in Sardar Patel Museum in Ahmedabad with this thought in mind. We pay our heartfelt tribute to him,” Kharge said.
The AICC brought out a special resolution on Patel, marking his 150th birth anniversary and 75th death anniversary. The Congress’s attempt to make Patel a pivotal part of its history also comes amid the BJP’s relentless attempt to claim the legal of Patel. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly invoked the legacy of Patel, pointing to the building of the Statue of Unity in Gujarat.
Pointing out that the BJP and the Sangh Parivar (RSS) are taking over the institutions associated with Gandhi such as the Sarva Seva Sangh and Gujarat Vidyapeeth, and handing it over to the Mahatma’s ideological opponents, Kharge said, “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.”
The Congress president hailed Gandhi, Patel and Dadabhai Naoroji (all three born in Gujarat) and said they made the Congress famous worldwide.
Patel and his close ties with Nehru dominated Kharge’s speech, in a bid to refute the BJP’s narrative that the two had major differences and that Nehru didn’t allow Patel to become the first PM . Kharge spoke about Patel’s tenure as Congress president. The resolutions at Karachi Congress, and quoted Patel’s remarks on Nehru in Gujarat Vidyapeeth in 1937.
He mentioned that Patel once said, “No one knows better than me the tireless efforts Nehruji has made for the country in the last two difficult years. During this time, I have seen him grow old very fast due to the burden of heavy responsibility.” He pointed out Nehru had “immense respect” for Patel and if Nehru sought some advice, he would go to Patel’s house. “For Patelji’s convenience, CWC meetings were held at his residence,” Kharge added.
Kharge argued that Patel’s ideology was contrary to the ideas of the RSS. “It is laughable that today the people of that organisation claim Sardar Patel’s legacy.” Linking Gujarat and Patel with BR Ambedkar, Kharge reminded the CWC that “Dr. Ambedkar himself had said in his last speech in the Constituent Assembly on 25 November 1949 that “the Constitution could not have been made without the cooperation of the Congress party.”
The party chief, who got elected to the top post in 2022, also reminded CWC on the impending duty of strengthening the organisation. He said that the AICC session will hold discussions on the challenges before the party and urged leaders to give “original suggestions”.