Surat: The All India Congress Convention concluded on Wednesday in Ahmedabad, where several Congress leaders paid tribute to the legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. A Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting was also held at the Sardar Patel Smarak on Tuesday. However, Gujarat BJP Chief and Union Minister C.R. Patil on Wednesday strongly criticized the Congress for remembering Sardar Patel only for political gains.

Addressing party workers at a conference held in the Majura Assembly constituency of Surat, Patil said, “Now that the Congress is talking about Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, I want to ask them—has any Congress leader from Gujarat or the country visited the Statue of Sardar Patel? Just give me the name of one ‘mai ka laal’ who has paid respects to Sardar Patel.”

“They didn’t even display a picture of Sardar Patel at their event, and now suddenly they remember him—because their time is up,” he added.

Speaking to the media, Patil said, “The Congress is now remembering Sardar Patel by holding a convention in Gujarat. However, they have no right to take his name. The Congress made every effort to diminish the contributions Sardar Patel made toward unifying India. They didn’t even allocate land in Delhi for his memorial.”

He added, “When Narendra Modi, as Chief Minister of Gujarat, took the initiative to build the world’s tallest statue to commemorate Sardar Patel’s work, not a single Congress leader—whether from Gujarat or anywhere else in the country—visited the Statue of Unity to pay their respects. If the Congress truly respected Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, they should apologize to the country for attempting to erase his legacy.”

Patil further stated, “The Congress has no moral right to claim Sardar Patel as their own. They are only invoking his name now because they are politically drowning. The people of Gujarat and the country have not forgotten—and will not forget—how the Congress treated him.”

He concluded by saying that even the Congress has acknowledged its declining influence in Gujarat and is now trying to revive its presence—an admission, according to Patil, of the party’s diminishing political relevance in the state. DeshGujarat