Hyderabad: Stating that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru are two eyes of the Congress, former Union minister S. Jaipal Reddy on Saturday said that there is nothing wrong if the BJP praises Patel, but it cannot deride India’s first Prime Minister.
“The decision to launch Operation Polo (Liberation of Hyderabad) was jointly taken by Pandit Nehru and Patel. There were no differences between the two on the issue nor was it solely Patel’s decision. BJP is trying to distort facts. There is nothing wrong in praising Patel, but they cannot deride Nehru,” Mr Reddy said.
He was reacting to Union law minister Ravi Shankar’s Prasad comments at a function on Friday that Nehru was hesitant to take action on Hyderabad State merger with Indian Union and it was Patel who finally took the decision and sent in the Army. He was also referring to comments by BJP leaders elsewhere on role of Patel and Congress during Freedom struggle.
“Ravi Shankar Prasad is a law minister but spoke unlawfully and in an atrocious manner. They don’t have respect for Patel. While trying to show they respect Sardar Patel, they have hatched a conspiracy to deride Nehru. Nehru, Patel were contemporaries, they were together in jail for 10 years,” Mr Reddy said.
He added, “Where is the question of differences between them? Are you (Ravi Shankar Prasad) a maternal uncle of Sardar Patel (to talk about the differences)? Nehru, Patel belong to us...they are our leaders.”
He also lashed out at BJP national president Amit Shah, calling him a “Gulli politician”. “Let them read history. RSS worked as a stooge of the British during Quit India Movement,” Mr Reddy said.
