Cong MP flays Modi for ‘ignoring’ Induchacha during Golden Jubilee

Without leaders like Yagnik, Gujarat could not have attained statehood and that people had a lot to learn from his life, he said.

Ahmed Patel inaugurates statue of Indulal Yagnik in Ahmedabad on Sunday. (Source: Express photo by Javed Raja)

Ahmed Patel, political advisor of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rajya Sabha MP, Sunday criticised the Gujarat Government then led by Narendra Modi for ignoring Indulal Yagnik during the Golden Jubilee celebration of the state a few years back. Patel said this during a function to unveil a statue of Yagnik, who spearheaded the Mahagujarat Movement, near Motera in Ahmedabad. Following the Mahagujarat Movement, in 1960, Gujarat was carved out as a separate state from the then State of Bombay.

Speaking at the function, Patel said, “Some time back, Gujarat celebrated the 50 years of its inception. But when I came to Ahmedabad and went to Gandhinagar from the airport (then), I did not see a single photo or poster of Induchacha. What can be more unfortunate than this?”
“There were pictures of those people who were then (during Mahagujarat Movement) not out of their childhood,” Patel added.

Patel said that Yagnik was a people’s leader in true sense. Yagnik did not have a chest of “56 inch”, but his mental strength and willpower were very strong. And it was mental strength and willpower which was needed to serve people and not chest of ‘56 inch’, Patel said without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said that without leaders like Yagnik, Gujarat could not have attained statehood and that people had a lot to learn from his life. Later, while talking to mediapersons, Patel criticised the BJP government for its handling of Swine flu spread. He said that the sheer mismanagement of the government in dealing with the disease was a matter of concern. “Swine flu is, not only in Gujarat but all over India, a matter of concern. Out of the total cases of Swine flu in the world, 10,000 are from India. This is mismanagement,” he said.

The statue was result of efforts of a group of personalities led by former finance minister of Gujarat, Sanat Mehta. Speaking on the occasion, Mehta brought out some important aspects of Yagnik’s personality.

First uploaded on: 23-02-2015 at 04:03 IST

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