A blunder that caused tremendous loss to Congress party in Gujarat in 1980s

By Japan K Pathak, Ahmedabad, 31 October 2014

One of the foremost reasons why Congress party lost respect among Gujarati people in general and Gujarati voters in particular was a single piece of news item published in prominent Gujarati dailies in middle/late 1980s.

That news item was about Congress party’s rashtriya adhiveshan or national convention. It was held in presence of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

There’s a historical photograph featuring Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru in one single frame(attached with this article).

In earlier rashtriya adhiveshans, the Congress party would make a big colorful portrait based on this photograph and set it up as a background of stage, or at the entry point of the venue of convention.

But in this adhiveshan which was held in 1980s with then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as its leading face, Congress party chopped off the Sardar Patel portion of portrait completely.

Needless to say that while Sardar Patel part was cropped, the other half projecting Jawaharlal sitting with Mahatma Gandhi was kept as it is!

Nex day when Gujarati dailies published stories on this development, Congress completely lost respect among people of Gujarat who had already strong feeling that Sardar Patel faced injustice in the past due to Jawaharlal Nehru’s lust for power, and Mahatma Gandhi’s favor for Jawahar.

This decision to crop Sardar Patel from party’s iconic cutout banner was a point that changed the direction of wind. People started searching options, and they discovered BJP.

Congress later lost plot in Gujarat gradually due to subsequent developments at state level and also at central level(including Bofors scam and emergence of VP Singh).

On Additional Note:

Congress governments in centre gave away Bharat Ratna awards to foreigners like Mother Teressa and Nelson Mandela, but Sardar Patel was forgotten! Jawaharlal Nehru managed to have Bharat Ratna when he himself was Prime Minister, but Sardar was not given Bharat Ratna. Lately Rajiv Gandhi too was given Bharat Ratna and Sardar Patel’s name was selected later on due to strong protest. This has also contributed to Congress’s misfortune in Gujarat.

There are hundreds of government schemes, projects, buildings, institutions named after Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi, but Sardar Patel was also neglected.

In recent years, entire new generation watched and realized the injustice made to Sardar Patel through a Hindi film ‘Sardar’.

It was pleasure to find that Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary was in focus today, thanks to nationalist and impartial government in centre.