Modi flags off Run for Unity: The importance of Sardar Patel and 'nationalist' narrative for BJP in Gujarat

1. Modi flags off Run for Unity: The importance of Sardar Patel and ‘nationalist’ narrative for BJP in Gujarat The memory of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is set to be evoked frequently in the days to come in Gujarat. The state polls on December 9 and 14. Modi flags off Run for Unity: The importance of Sardar Patel and 'nationalist' narrative for BJP in Gujarat on Business Standard. The memory of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is set to be evoked frequently in the days to come in Gujarat.

2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday flaggedoff the ‘Run for Unity’ from the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, near India Gate. Similar ‘runs’ have been organised across the country to mark the 142nd birth anniversary of India’s first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. “Some people tried to ensure the contribution of Sardar Patel is forgotten,” PM Modi said. “We remember Sardar Patel on his birth anniversary. We are proud of his contribution to India before we attained freedom and during the early years after we became independent,” he said at the Dhyan Chand stadium in the national capital before flagging off the ‘Run for Unity’ event. In Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a WhatsApp campaign on Monday to highlight the “insults” allegedly meted out by the Nehru-Gandhi family to two sons of Gujarat – Sardar Vallabhbai Patel and Morarji Desai. The social media campaign accuses the Nehru-Gandhi family of “insulting” Gujarati ‘asmita’, or pride. It says Patel, the first home minister of independent India and deputy prime minister, wasn’t accorded a memorial in New Delhi. The WhatsApp forward claims Patel was stopped from becoming the first prime minister of India, that he wasn’t conferred the ‘Bharat Ratna’ by any of the Congress governments or his birth centenary celebrated. Click here to read → Sardar Patel Statue