{"id":38464,"date":"2017-10-31T18:44:29","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T13:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/?p=38464"},"modified":"2017-11-01T12:18:54","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T06:48:54","slug":"modi-bjp-capitalizes-sardar-patel-birth-anniversary-ahead-gujarat-polls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/top-news-of-the-day\/news\/modi-bjp-capitalizes-sardar-patel-birth-anniversary-ahead-gujarat-polls\/","title":{"rendered":"Modi, BJP capitalizes on Sardar Patel birth anniversary ahead of Gujarat polls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a gathering on the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas \u2013 to mark the 142nd birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel \u2013 at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi. Photo: PIB<\/em><\/p>\n

The Prime Minister flags of Run for Unity on the 142nd birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and alleges earlier governments tried to wipe out Patel\u2019s legacy<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the occasion of the 142nd birth anniversary of India\u2019s first home minister and deputy prime minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi eulogized the \u2018Iron Man of India\u2019 who, interestingly, had once censored the saffron party\u2019s parent organisation \u2013 the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The commemoration of Patel, it is believed has been undertaken in a bid to woo Patidars ahead of upcoming Gujarat polls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been attempts to run down Sardar Patel, to ensure that his contribution is forgotten. But Sardar is Sardar, whether any government or any party recognises his contribution or not but the nation and the youth will not forget him,\u201d Modi said while addressing the gathering on the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas \u2013 to mark the 142nd birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel \u2013 at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.<\/p>\n

\"Prime<\/a>
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Rajnath Singh, minister of state for youth affairs and sports Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore flagging off the Run For Unity from the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium. Photo: PIB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Paying rich tributes to Sardar Patel, Modi said: \u201cThe British government wished that India was disintegrated into smaller states. But Patel used all means (saam, daam, dand, bhed, rajneeti, kutneeti) and succeeded in uniting all princely states into a single nation within a very small span of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRajendra Babu must be happy now, wherever his soul may be, that we are remembering the contribution of Sardar Patel today even though some people tried to run down and erase his contribution. The nation will continue to remember Patel,\u201d Modi declared.<\/p>\n

Sardar Patel hailed from a humble agricultural land holding Patidar family from Gujarat, the home state of both, Prime Minister Narendra Modi<\/a> and BJP national president Amit Shah. The BJP currently faces its toughest poll battle in the past 22 years as Gujarat goes to polls next month and a major reason for this party\u2019s troubles is the raging Patidar agitation in the state that is being led by Hardik Patel, who is threatening to align with the Congress to bring down the state\u2019s saffron government.<\/p>\n

\u2014India Legal Bureau <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Above: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a gathering on the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas \u2013 to mark the 142nd birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel \u2013 at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi. Photo: PIB The Prime Minister flags of Run for Unity on the 142nd birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and alleges […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[1102,1353,15,5680],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/d2r2ijn7njrktv.cloudfront.net\/IL\/uploads\/2017\/10\/lead-new10.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}