Modi,PM may share dais at Sardar Patel museum inauguration

Senior Congress leader Jawahar Upadhyay said that Modi had also been invited to the event. Keshubhai Patel,who is also a member of the society,has also been invited. Dinsha Patel had met Modi and invited him to the function. The invitation card of the function says that the PM will be the chief guest and Modi the special guest. The Sardar memorial has been renovated at Rs 19 crore.

Meanwhile,Modi will lay the foundation stone of the Rs 2,000-crore Statue of Unity project at the exotic Kevadiya Colony on an island opposite the Sardar Sarovar Dam. About 20,000 farmers from across India are expected to participate. Besides,1 lakh farmers from Gujarat will also take out a rally near the venue before the foundation-laying ceremony. Modi has also invited his critic and Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Jairam Ramesh to the event. It will be organised under the aegis of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust,headed by Modi.

Modi is trying hard to bring the farmer lobby comprising Patels on his side by launching a movement to collect iron for making the statue. The politically powerful Patel community influences more than 20 Assembly seats in Gujarat. Most of them are aligned with the BJP already. As the Gujarat government machinery moves to mobilise this collection,it will also help the BJP mobilise farmers across the country.

Gordhan Zadaphia,a Patel leader who quit the BJP to join former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel’s Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP),complains that the Congress in the state has woken up very late to honour Sardar Patel. He also criticises Modi of politicising Sardar Patel. “Narendra Modi is asking for pieces of iron from farmers. It is not intended to raise the status of Sardar Patel,but to garner votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls,’’ he says. “Poor farmers are being terrorised to vacate their land for Sardar Patel’s statue. This is not living up to Sardar’s ideals,” he said. The Bhartiya Kisan Sangh,which has openly and fiercely opposed Modi for years,has come out in support of Modi for this project.

SYED KHALIQUE AHMED & HIRAL DAVE