PM should stop misquoting, misappropriating Patel: Congress on Modi’s PoJK remarks

New Delhi, May 29: Narendra Modi should stop “misquoting” and “misappropriating” Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for his own “petty politics of hate”, the Congress said on Thursday as it countered the prime minister’s remarks that it was Patel’s wish that the armed forces must not stop till PoJK was taken back but it was not heeded to.
Congress’s media and publicity department head Pawan Khera shared on X a letter written by Patel to N Gopalaswami Ayyangar and said Patel’s words elucidated his weighted caution regarding Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), considering the military realities of the time.
Speaking in Gandhinagar earlier this week, Modi took a veiled dig at Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister.
“In 1947, when Maa Bharti was partitioned, ‘katni chahiye thi zanjeerein par kaat di gayi bhujayein (chains should have been cut but instead, hands were severed)’. The country was divided into three parts. On that very night, the first terrorist attack took place in Kashmir,” he said.
“A part of Maa Bharti was captured by Pakistan using terrorists in the name of Mujahideen. If on that day, these Mujahideen were killed, and Sardar Patel’s wish was that until we get PoJK back, our armed forces should not stop. But no one listened to him and now, we have been facing this (terrorism) for the last 75 years. Pahalgam was also a perverse form of it,” the prime minister said.
Khera noted that speaking at a rally in Gujarat, Modi had said Patel wanted PoJK back but was stopped.
“It is my pleasure to educate our Prime Minister that on 4th June 1948, Sardar Patel wrote a letter to N Gopalaswami Ayyangar from Dehradun: ‘The military position is none too good, and I am afraid our military resources are strained to the uttermost. How long we are to carry on this unfortunate affair, it is difficult to foresee’,” the Congress leader said.
“For those of us who care about facts, Sardar Patel’s words elucidate his weighted caution regarding PoJK considering military realities of the time. As for Modi ji who has never quite shown care for truth — he should stop misquoting, misappropriating or co-opting statesmen from the Congress like Sardar Patel for his own petty politics of hate and divisiveness,” Khera said.
Besides, it is rather embarrassing for the prime minister of India to be fact-checked on X, he added.
Khera also shared a screenshot of Patel’s letter to Ayyangar. (PTI)

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