Unity Day: PM praises Sardar Patel, rakes up 1984 riots

Says anti-Sikh violence was a "dagger" in the centuries-old fabric of India's unity

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday raked up the anti-Sikh violence that followed the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi this day 30 years ago and said it was a “dagger” in the centuries-old fabric of India’s unity as he dedicated the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as the National Unity Day.

Celebrated as an event to accord Sardar Patel, the ‘Iron Man of India’, and his place in history, the government said the Unity Day is not an attempt to belittle the contribution of any other leader.

Flagging off Run for Unity on the 139th birth anniversary of the first home minister of the country, celebrated as ‘Rashtriya Ekta Divas’, Modi noted that the day was being commemorated as the death anniversary of Indira Gandhi but made a veiled reference to the anti-Sikh riots that followed her assassination.

Modi said Patel devoted his life for the unity of the nation and it was unfortunate that “our very own people” were killed on his birth anniversary 30 years ago.

“...In the same country, 30 years ago, on the birth anniversary of the same leader something happened which cast a blow to the unity of the nation.”

“Hamare apne logon ko maut ke ghaat utar diya gaya (our own people were killed on that day). That incident was not a wound in the heart of any community. It was a dagger in the centuries-old fabric of India’s unity,” he said.