Anurag Thakur flags off ‘Run for Unity’ in Una

Lok Sabha MP Anurag Thakur today flagged off the ‘Run for Unity’ at the BJP office in Una city on the occasion of former Prime Minister and Home Minister Vallabhbhai Patel’s 150th birth anniversary.

Speaking on the occasion, Anurag said Patel was not only a freedom fighter, but was instrumental in merging more than 560 princely states into the Union of India after Independence without any bloodshed.

Thakur said Patel was one of the key figures in the successful Kheda and Bardoli peasant movements in 1918 and 1928, respectively, in Gujarat to protest against the imposition of unrealistic land revenue by the British government.

The success of the Bardoli movement earned Patel the title of ‘Sardar’ among the locals, said the MP, adding that as a tribute to the leader, the Narendra Modi government had solicited contributions from the country's farmers in the form of worn out iron made agriculture tools to forge a 182 meter high Patel's statute at Ekta Nagar in Gujarat.

The MP said the present Congress party has forgotten the contributions made by Sardar Patel for the unity of the country and conferred the ‘Bharat Ratna’ award on him after 41 years of his death, while some others were given the same during their lifetime.

Anurag said it was the Narendra Modi government which recognised Patel’s contributions in merging princely states like Junagarh, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir into India. He charged that the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru made a mistake by according a special status state to Jammu and Kashmir, adding that Narendra Modi undid Nehru’s follies and brought about ‘One Nation-One Flag-One Constitution’ theme, a true tribute to the ‘Iron Man’ of India.

The district level ‘Run for Unity’ began at the BJP office and culminated at the municipal park in Una city. Una MLA Satpal Singh Satti, former MLAs Virender Kanwar, Rajesh Thakur, Balbir Singh and Chaitanya Sharma were also present, besides BJP workers.