Gandhi, Modi fight over Sardar Patel’s legacy

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took on the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in his home state of Gujarat, saying he represents RSS ideology which has killed Mahatma Gandhi. He also attacked Modi for construction of a massive statue of Sardar Patel, saying the ‘Iron Man’ had described the RSS ideology as ‘poisonous’ and had represented Congress thought which Modi wants to erase from the country. 

In an attempt at damage control over the chai wala barb by his party colleague Mani Shankar Aiyar against Modi, the Congress vice-president said people from all professions, including tea vendors should be respected except those who make fool of others. 

Attacking Modi’s ideology, he said, ‘You have been in RSS all your life... Who killed Mahatma? It was RSS ideology which killed him. After his death Sardar Patel had proposed to ban RSS’. 

‘What Patel and Mahatma said neither do you have any understanding nor have read them. But you want to construct a statue. Sardar had said RSS was a poisonous ideology which will destroy the country’s soul.’ 

Meanwhile, Modi at his rally in Guwahati, said the Congress has forgotten the ideology of Patel. 

‘Everyone says that you are from BJP and a part of RSS and you are constructing the statue of unity… For you, he must be just a party leader (of Congress), for us, he is a national leader,’ Modi said.

‘He doesn’t belong to any party. The Congress has forgotten him. We have forced them to remember him after 60 years,’ he added. Modi has announced the statue of Patel in Gujarat would be the tallest in the world.