Statue of Sardar Patel inaugurated but his institutions being smashed: Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi, while saluting Sardar Patel for his contributions, held the BJP-led government guilty of treason.

New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Centre of destroying institutions which had been created by Sardar Vallabhai Patel. His latest attack against the BJP government comes on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the world's tallest statue to honour the country's first Home Minister.

Rahul took to Twitter moments after PM Modi had inaugurated the 182m Statue of Unity, and accused his government of targeting the vision of Sardar Patel. "Ironic that a statue of Sardar Patel is being inaugurated, but every institution he helped build is being smashed. The systematic destruction of India's institutions is nothing short of treason," he wrote on the micro-blogging website.

Ironic that a statue of Sardar Patel is being inaugurated, but every institution he helped build is being smashed. The systematic destruction of India's institutions is nothing short of treason. #StatueOfUnity

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 31, 2018

Sardar Patel was an iconic leader of the country's freedom struggle and is remembered fondly for unifying the country by bringing together 500 princely states to the Union of India. He used force to annex princely states of Junagadh ruled by Nawab and Hyderabad ruled by nizam, both of whom had wished not to merge their states with the India union.

It is to honour Sardar Patel for his contributions that a his statue was envisioned by PM Modi when he was the CM of Gujarat. The foundation stone was laid in 2013 and work was completed in record time.

While Rahul made no mention of the statue itself in his tweets on Wednesday, he did salute Sardar Patel on his birth anniversary. "A man with a steely will, tempered by compassion, he was a Congressman to the core, who had no tolerance for bigotry or communalism. On his birth anniversary, I salute this great son of India," tweeted the Congress president.