Data and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday mentioned that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taking ahead Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s imaginative and prescient of ‘One India (Ek Bharat)’ with ‘Shreshta Bharat (India one of the best)’, including think about an India fragmented into tons of of princely states had Patel not been there.
“Prior to now, just one household was promoted in a means as if your complete freedom wrestle was fought by them, however historical past is witness that wherever they intervened that space couldn’t change into part of India in actual phrases,” he mentioned whereas delivering the Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture that was aired on the All India Radio (AIR).
Touching upon first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s function within the accession of Jammu & Kashmir to India, Thakur mentioned, “The nation remembers Patel for integration… Jammu & Kashmir’s accountability was taken by Nehru. Article 370 has been an enormous impediment within the integration of J&Ok… by abrogating Article 370 and ending Article 35A, the Modi authorities has realised Patel’s dream.”
The I&B Minister mentioned that Patel was a visionary and it was unlucky that he didn’t get sufficient alternatives to take the nation ahead after Independence. “Leaders of the time dedicated some blunders with respect to China… Patel might anticipate the approaching menace from China. In a letter to Nehru on November 7, 1948, he had mentioned, ‘the federal government of China is making an attempt to mislead us by declaring their peaceable intent. It’s unhappy that we’ve let Tibetans down, who reposed their religion in us’,” Thakur mentioned. “historical past is witness to the truth that Patel’s warnings have been ignored, everyone knows what occurred in 1962… However now the state of affairs has modified because the Modi authorities all the time retains Patel’s phrases in thoughts and that’s why nobody dares India,” he mentioned.
The lecture is organised by the AIR yearly — since 1995 — to mark the start anniversary of Sardar Patel, which is now additionally celebrated as Nationwide Unity Day. The topic of this 12 months was — “Highly effective India-Proud India: 75 Years of Independence”.
“Sardar Patel was the primary I&B Minister of India… it’s a privilege that the Prime Minister has given me the accountability of this ministry,” he mentioned.
In direction of the tip of the 20-minute lecture, Thakur additionally spoke concerning the authorities’s deal with reviving the nation’s religious previous. “Patel had vowed on November 13, 1947, to reconstruct the Somnath Temple and restore its glory. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is main from the entrance on this rely — from Somnath temple to Kashi Vishwanath hall mission …to Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.”
He additionally made a point out of the nation’s sporting successes lately, citing athlete Neeraj Chopra to shuttler P V Sindhu.