New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday accused Protection Minister Rajnath Singh of “twisting and altering historical past” and criticized his remarks that first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru needed to construct Babri Masjid utilizing public funds however President Sardar Patel didn’t permit his plan to succeed.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra mentioned the remarks have been a distraction and these points have been being raised to keep away from dialogue on necessary points. Opposition chief Rahul Gandhi selected not to reply to Singh’s claims and refused to remark when reporters approached him outdoors parliament.
“All these are distractions. There are a lot of different actual points that should be mentioned. They’re new distractions every single day and we’re not in a position to talk about individuals’s actual issues,” Priyanka advised the media.
Talking at an occasion in Vadodara, Gujarat, on Tuesday, Mr. Singh, who is commonly seen as a reasonable inside the Bharatiya Janata Occasion in comparison with his hard-line colleagues, sparked controversy by claiming that Mr. Patel had blocked Mr. Nehru from utilizing public funds to rebuild the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
Mr. Singh added that when Mr. Nehru raised the problem of restoration of the Somnath temple, Mr. Patel “firmly” defined that the temple was completely different from a temple because it was funded by donations to a public belief.
Singh didn’t cite any sources in his speech, however on Thursday, a number of pro-India social media accounts cited excerpts from his e-book Inside Story of Sardar Patel: The Diary of Maniben Patel, which presents related content material.
In response to Singh’s remarks, Congress chief Manish Tewari advised reporters: “Rajnath Singh ought to concentrate on strategic points as a substitute of twisting and altering historical past to go well with his personal narrative.”
Manickam Tagore, a member of Congress and a member of Congress, posted a prolonged assertion on X, accusing Singh of mendacity and rewriting the previous to divide the current.
“There is no such thing as a archival or documentary proof to assist it. Nehru was clearly against utilizing authorities funds for spiritual websites, together with the reconstruction of temples. He insisted that funding ought to come from public donations, not the state. If Nehru refused public funds even for Somnath, a logo revered by hundreds of thousands, why would he counsel spending taxpayers’ cash on Babri? That argument falls other than primary logic and historic document,” Tagore wrote.
Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi additionally criticized Mr Singh and disputed the claims.
“The place does he get such data from? He’s the protection minister of this nation. He has additionally served because the prime minister. He isn’t somebody like Modiji, he’s thought of a severe politician. So everytime you make such statements, particularly in a historic context, you must at the very least preserve the dignity of getting factual proof for it,” Pratapgarhi mentioned.
