Picture Credit: @rajnathsingh/X
Several opposition leaders has slammed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s remarks that the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds, and accused him and the ruling BJP of distorting historical facts.
According to media reports, Addressing a gathering at Sadhli village near Vadodara as part of a ‘Unity March’ to commemorate Sardar Patel’s 150th birth anniversary, Rajnath Singh said, “Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to build the Babri Masjid (in Ayodhya) using public funds. If anyone opposed this proposal, it was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, born to a Gujarati mother.
“He didn’t allow the Babri Masjid to be built using public funds”.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the remarks are aimed at distracting attention from real issues that need to be discussed.
“These are all distractions. There are many other real issues that need to be discussed. They create a new distraction every day so that we are unable to discuss the real issues of the people,” the Wayanad MP told media persons.
Congress Lok Sabha MP from Chandigarh Manish Tewari said the defence minister should focus on strategic challenges “instead of twisting and turning history to suit his narrative”.
Congress Lok Sabha MP from Saharanpur Imran Masood also questioned Singh’s claim.
“I don’t know why he is making such remarks. We only know of one historical document. If it concerns Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, they should have the document…,” Masood told reporters.
“Nobody will accept it just because he says so. Yes, there is one document in which Sardar Patel took action to ban the RSS… All of this was done by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. His roadmap is the very path on which the country is progressing today. He also fostered scientific thinking,” he said.
