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Sardar Patel Jayanti: Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday that the map of modern India that we see today is the result of the foresight and tireless efforts of Sardar Patel.
Sardar Patel Jayanti: Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday on Patel Jayanti that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fulfilled Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s dream of a united India. It was Modi who fulfilled Patel’s dream by removing Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. Flagging off the ‘Run for Unity’ at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi on the 150th birth anniversary of the country’s first Home Minister Sardar Patel, Shah said that after India’s independence, the British decided to leave the country by dividing it into 562 princely states. He said that at that time the whole world thought that it would be impossible to merge these 562 princely states into one nation but Sardar Patel unified all these princely states in a very short time. The map of modern India that we see today is the result of his foresight and tireless efforts. Amit Shah said that some princely states were not ready to merge with India, but they did not agree with Sardar Patel.
Did not get respect during Congress rule
Shah said that due to Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir could not become a complete part of India. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed the unfinished work of Sardar Patel by removing Article 370 and today we have ‘Akhand Bharat’. Shah said that Congress governments did not give Sardar Patel the respect he deserved. He said that there was a delay of 41 years in giving Bharat Ratna to the architect of the country’s integration. Amit Shah said that during the Congress rule, neither any grand memorial nor any memorial place was built in his name. When Narendra Modi became the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he came up with the idea of ’Statue of Unity’ in the memory of Sardar Patel and built a grand memorial.
Floral tribute offered to the statue
The foundation stone of the statue of Sardar Patel was laid on 31 October 2013. Shah said that the construction of this 182 meter high statue was completed in just 57 months. Shah said that by collecting these tools, about 25,000 tonnes of iron was made which was used in the construction of the statue. The Union Home Minister said that 90,000 cubic meters of concrete and more than 1,700 tonnes of bronze were used to create this memorial, which has today become a symbol of paying tribute to Sardar Patel. Earlier, Shah paid floral tributes at the statue of Sardar Patel at Patel Chowk here. He said that Sardar Saheb strengthened the unity and security of the country by merging the princely states. By linking farmers, backward classes and the deprived with cooperatives, they moved towards self-reliance and self-reliance.
Also read: PM Modi’s tribute to Iron Man Sardar Patel on his 150th birth anniversary, National Unity Day parade taken out
