Letters: The Iron Man's legacy

This refers to the report "PM & Modi share dais, slug it over Sardar Patel's legacy" (October 30). After his death in 1950, no Congress member, till yesterday, remembered Patel, let alone claiming his legacy. The prime minister, while proud to be in a party in which Patel once worked, and also hoping that the Congress leadership was not offended, conveniently avoided all his contribution to the nation and the Congress, and only referred to him as "secular". Sardar Patel, could never become the prime minister since Mahatma Gandhi preferred Jawaharlal Nehru. But undeterred, Patel did commendable work during his short stint as deputy prime minister and home minister. He differed with Nehru on many vital issues. The Congress has forgotten him conveniently, and even avoided "rhetoric" references, advertisements, on his birth/death anniversaries. Only the Narmada dam was named after him as the "Sardar Sarovar" dam.

N Ramamurthy Chennai

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