LIONISING PATEL THROUGH SELECTIVE AMNESIA AND CYNICAL MANIPULATION !
Modi has announced that he is building in Gujarat a statue of
Vallabbhai Patel,which would be the tallest in the world and twice the
height of Statue of liberty.
Sardar Patel,if he is at all watching
these developments,must be both a deeply anguished and a very angry
man.Angry because of his clever appropriation by those whom he
steadfastly opposed. Anguished,because the vision of India being offered
by his new devotees is so different to the one for which he dedicated
his entire life.
WHY ?
*Modi,has never denied that he is still
dedicated pracharak of RSS and deeply influenced by the philosophy of
Rashtriya Swyam Sangh.Modi has reportedly written a book,praising
Golwalkar,longest serving Sarsanchalak of the RSS [1940-73].It will be
pertinent to ask Modi :-
1.Does he agree with Golwalkar's explicitly
stated views that India is an exclusively Hindu nation,with no place
for people of other faiths,not even the rights of a citizen ?
2.Does he support Golwalkar's praise of Nazi Germany,for having manifested a nation's highest pride in exterminating the Jews ?
3.Does he believe ,like Golwalkar,that the Manusmriti,that consigns
Shudras to perpetual service of Brahmnas and advocates servitude of
women,is the only valid law for India ?
*Patel was India's Home
minister when,on February 2,1948,the Government banned the RSS,in
pursuance of its -"determination to root out the forces of hate and
violence that are at work in our country and imperil the freedom of the
nation and darken her fair name".
*In a September 11,1948 letter to
Guru Golwalkar,the then RSS sarsanchalak,the Sardar was forthright in
his denunciation of RSS leaders :-"all their speeches were full of
communal poison. It was not necessary to spread poison in order to
enthuse the Hindus and organize for their protection.As a final result
of the poison,the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable
life of Gandhi ji."
*Significantly the Sardar was never in doubt
about the role of the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha in the murder of the
Mahatma. In a letter dated February 27,1948 to Nehru,he states this
clearly :-"it was a fanatical wing of the Hindu Mahasabha directly under
Sarvarkar that hatched the conspiracy and saw it through...of
course,his assassination was welcomed by those of the RSS and Hindu
Mhasabha who were strongly opposed to his way of thinking and to his
policy ".
*He reiterates this position in another letter [July
18,1948] to Shyama Prasad Mookerjee :-"as regards the RSS and Hindu
Mahasabha...our reports do confirm that as a result of these two bodies
,particularly the former, an atmosphere was created in the country in
which such a ghastly tragedy became possible."
*Incidentally
,although Nathuram Godse denied any direct link with the RSS at the time
of his trial,many years later,in an interview to Frontline magazine in
January 1994,his brother Gopal,was quite candid about the truth :-"all
the brothers were in the RSS,Nathuram,Dattatreya, myself and Govind.You
can say we grew up in the RSS rather than in our home.It was like a
family to us. Nathuram had become a baudhik karyavah [intellectual
worker] in the RSS."
*Sardar Patel was a staunch follower of Gandhi
ji and his inclusive vision.His emphatic opposition to the RSS,the
institution which mentored Modi and shaped his world view,is documented
fact.What is then Modi trying to convey by co-opting Patel and building
the world's tallest statue as tribute to him?
Why this political hypocrisy and dichotomy ?
[Compilation :courtesy, Pavan K Verma].
