Former President Pranab Mukherjee Friday said that barrister and senior Congress leader Rajni Patel was a staunch believer in Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's idea of modern India.
Mukherjee was here to launch a book "Remembering Rajni" written by the late Congressman's wife Bakul. '
The former President said that Patel could have achieved political power but believed in working for the people.
He believed in Nehru's idea of a modern India free of bigotry and economic bondage and was also a votary of people's control over national resources, Mukherkee said.
Speaking at the function, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar said the Nehru Centre in Worli in central Mumbai was conceptualised by Patel as a tribute to the country's first prime minister.
Nehru Centre, conceived in 1972, comprises a planetarium, an art gallery, a permanent exposition called Discovery of India as well as a science laboratory for students.
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"He wanted people to develop a scientific temper and be away from fundamentalism. He believed in a secular democracy," Pawar said about Patel.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah called Patel a man "who could do anything".
Abdullah, while eulogising Patel, also took a veiled swipe at the ruling BJP government.
"He believed in Nehru's idea of modern India which the current dispensation wants people to forget. Is this the India Nehru, and me as a young boy, dreamt of?" Abdullah asked.
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