Continuous efforts being made to 'appropriate' Patel's legacy: Congress

New Delhi: Congress on Thursday paid rich tributes to Sardar Vallabhai Patel on his birth anniversary while claiming that the Sangh Parivar is making continuous efforts to "(mis)appropriate" his legacy and they were forced to bow before "lifelong Congressman".

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge paid "respectful tributes" to the Iron Man of India, the first Deputy Prime Minister of the country, former Congress President and "our idol" Patel, who made an independent India a complete country.

"Sardar Patel's personality and thoughts will always inspire the coming generations to serve the nation," he said on X.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi described Patel as the leader who tied the country together in a thread of unity and integrity. "His footprints that united India and established love and brotherhood in the country always guide us," he said.

Congress Media and Publicity Department chairman Pawan Khera targeted the RSS and said Patel "kept the Sanghis under control, so today all the Sanghis are also forced to bow before this lifelong Congressman".

"A few years ago, these same Sanghis used to print and distribute books against Sardar Saheb," Khera said on X.

Hailing him as a pivotal figure in the freedom movement and shaping the creation of post-1947 India, Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh posted on 'X', "continuous efforts are being made to (mis)appropriate his legacy by those whose ideological gurus opposed the Quit India Movement in which the Sardar was jailed for almost three years and who criticised the Constitution, a key committee of which was chaired by the Sardar later."

He said this only exposed the "insecurities and hypocrisy of the (mis)appropriators".

It was Jawaharlal Nehru who inaugurated a bronze bust of Patel in Godhra on February 13, 1949. An inscription below the bust also bears out this fact, he said adding the bust had been installed by local Congressmen in Godhra, because this is where the Sardar had started his legal practice, he said.

"Nehru had come to Godhra after laying the foundation for the educational township Vallabh Vidya Nagar near Anand - named of course after Sardar Patel. At Godhra, Nehru spoke of how averse he was to the unveiling of statues, especially for living personalities - but that he had made an exception in the case of Sardar Patel, because they were the closest of colleagues and because of the Sardar's unique contributions to the making of Independent India," Ramesh said.

"This is among the very few, if not the only, busts of Sardar Patel erected when he was alive," he said.