The RSS and Sardar Patel: A curious case of the BJP's selective blindness

Secondly, the two largest names (Gandhi and Nehru) have already been taken. So you go in advance and accept Vallabhbhai Patel, who, without problems, ticks all the proper boxes of freedom fighter, strong mass chief and now not having Gandhi or Nehru for a surname.But even the adoption of Sardar Patel comes with its personal set of challenges (for the Sangh / BJP, this is). In the primary few months of post-Independent India, Patel prolonged an olive branch to the RSS and invited them to enroll in the Congress. In a speech in Lucknow on 6 January 1948, Patel said:"In the Congress, those who are in electricity experience that with the aid of the virtue of authority they may be capable of overwhelm the RSS. You cannot weigh down an business enterprise by using the danda. The danda is meant for thieves and dacoits. They are patriots who love their country. Only their trend of notion is diverted. They are to be won over by means of Congressmen, by means of love." In the Congress, people who are in energy sense that by using the virtue of authority they will be capable of overwhelm the RSS. You cannot crush an corporation with the aid of using the 'danda'. The 'danda' is supposed for thieves and dacoits. They are patriots who love their u . S . A .. Only their trend of concept is diverted. They are to be received over by means of Congressmen, with the aid of love But just 3 weeks later, Mahatma Gandhi became assassinated through Nathuram Godse. Although the RSS became in no way legally related to the assassination of Gandhi, it had performed its damage as far as its belief inside the eyes of Patel changed into worried. Patel banned the RSS. In a letter to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Patel wrote: "There is no doubt in my thoughts the acute segment of the Hindu Mahasabha changed into involved on this conspiracy. The activities of the RSS constituted a clean threat to the lifestyles of the Government and the State." There is no doubt in my thoughts the extreme section of the Hindu Mahasabha turned into worried on this conspiracy. The sports of the RSS constituted a clean hazard to the life of the Government and the State One and a half of years later, but, Patel reversed his ban on the RSS. There became, but, a condition: the RSS might stay away from politics. Within a yr, RSS would destroy the promise as Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, with assist from MS Golwalkar shaped the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. ( The Jana Sangh, as it was also referred to as, merged with a number of parties in competition to the Congress in 1977 to shape the Janata Party. In 1980, the birthday party break up in addition and reunited into the Bharatiya Janata Party).Given the deep mistrust Patel had in the direction of the RSS and its eventual political offshoot, the BJP, it is curious how the latter has co-opted Patel as its icon. But then that is the logo of politics that the BJP represents. As lengthy because it serves the party's purpose, they're greater than inclined to with ease turn a blind eye to those rather uncomfortable historic data.So, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the gargantuan statue of Sardar Patel, built dealing with the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada, it could not be greater apparent that the only way the BJP has managed to undermine the Gandhi-Nehru legacy is in terms of the peak of the statue. Dailyhunt http://doodleordie.com/profile/zeerkzoojug

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