He asserted that Patel’s ideology was contrary to the ideas of RSS and he had even banned the organisation.”But it is laughable that today the people of that organisation claim Sardar Patel’s legacy,” Kharge said.Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel played an important role in making Baba Saheb Ambedkar a member of the Constituent Assembly, he claimed.Ambedkar himself had said in his last speech in the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949 that ‘the Constitution could not have been made without the support of the Congress Party’, Kharge recalled.”But when the Constitution was made, the RSS criticised Gandhiji, Pandit Nehru, Dr. Ambedkar and the Congress a lot. They burnt the effigies of the Constitution and these leaders at Ramlila Maidan. They also said that the Constitution was not inspired by Manuwadi ideals,” he said.The Modi government insulted Gandhi and Baba Saheb by removing their grand statues from Parliament premises and putting them in a corner, he alleged.”The Home Minister (Amit Shah) mocked Baba Saheb in the Rajya Sabha by saying that ‘you people keep saying Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar’,” he said.Kharge asserted that the Congress party respects both the Constitution and the Constitution makers and knows how to protect it.”Sardar Patel Saheb lives in our hearts, lives in our thoughts. We are taking his legacy forward. We have organised this CWC meeting in Ahmedabad at Sardar Patel Museum with this thought in mind. We pay our heartfelt tribute to him,” he said.Kharge further alleged that today, the BJP and Sangh Parivar people are taking over institutions associated with Gandhi and handing them over to his ideological opponents.”They have also taken over Sarva Seva Sangh in Varanasi. You all know what happened in Gujarat Vidyapeeth. Gandhian people and people of the cooperative movement are being marginalised,” Kharge alleged.”People with such thinking can steal Gandhiji’s glasses and stick. But they can never follow his ideals. Gandhiji’s ideological legacy is the real capital which only Congress party has,” he asserted.”This year is the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi Ji becoming the Congress President. In December 1924, the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi Ji became the President in the Belagavi Congress session in my home state Karnataka. We celebrated this centenary in Karnataka on December 26,” he said.Three great personalities born on the land of Gujarat made the name of Congress famous all over the world, he said.Dada Bhai Naoroji, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel- all of them were the Presidents of our Congress Party, he pointed out.”Gandhi Ji gave us the weapon of truth and non-violence against injustice. This is such a strong ideological weapon that no power can stand in front of it,” Kharge said.
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