Cong remembers only Gandhi family,not Patel or Bose: Javadekar

Hitting back at Congress which has accused the BJP government of forgetting the death anniversary of former PM Indira Gandhi, Union minister Prakash Javadekar today said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had always acknowledged the good work done by his predecessors unlike Congress.
Alleging that Congress did not remember leaders like Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose and Lal Bahadur Shastri despite being in power for a long time, Javadekar said the party knew only "Gandhi family".
"Congress was at the helm of power for several years, but did not remember Patel, Bose and Shastri and laud their contributions. The reason is that for Congress, they have only one family.

"Whenever I go to various parts of the country, I see institutes and projects being named after only one family.. that is Gandhi family. There are over 842 institutes, entities, projects and schemes which are named after one family," Javadekar said while addressing party workers here.
"Why there are no projects, schemes and institutes named after Patel, Bose or Bhagat Singh? Why are no memorials built in their memory?" he asked.
"But we will build the memorial of Patel in Gujarat and continue to laud the efforts of all these great leaders," he said.

Javadekar paid tributes to Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Home Minister of India, on his 141st birth anniversary.

Later, talking to reporters on the sidelines of an event to observe Patel's birth anniversary as 'Ekta Diwas', the Union HRD minister said, "Today, I heard Congress is criticising government for forgetting Indira Gandhi, but in reality the entire nation is paying tributes to her.
"Modiji has been lauding the efforts and good work of all the past PMs and Congress has never taken such a stance. Our government lauds the efforts and contribution of all leaders who had fought for freedom. We do not have any selective amnesia," he said.
Javadekar said history would have been different if the "great unifier" of the country (Vallabhbhai Patel) had taken up the responsibility of Kashmir, which was then rested with Jawaharlal Nehru.

"When did they (Congress) observe Patel's death or
birth anniversary?..They shouldn't speak on such issue," he said.
"Our government is lauding the efforts of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was known for his farsightedness but how can we forget the fact that it was Patel who united the country," Javadekar said.
On the issue of schools being set on fire in Valley, the minister said that it was really sad that schools were being targeted.
"This shows the character and colour of separatists and terrorists. All those who are setting schools on fire are enemies of humanity and we condemn the barbaric act of these people.

"Over 25 schools are being set on fire, however, the common people of Kashmir and people of India will not fall prey to such acts as they will continue to learn.. They have hunger for education," he said.
On the alleged encounter of eight SIMI men in Madhya Pradesh today and the doubts being raised over its "genuineness", Javadekar said he would not speak on the issue as investigating agencies were yet to submit their report.
He said, "with such operation, henceforth, India will not tolerate terrorism."
Javadekar accused the erstwhile Congress-led UPA dispensation of "not grating" permission to build memorial of Maratha king Shivaji Maharaj in Arabian sea for years.

"However, the NDA government granted the permission in record time," he added.