AHMEDABAD – In a calculated move blending political symbolism with electoral messaging, the Congress party convened its extended Working Committee meeting at the Sardar Patel Memorial in Ahmedabad—right in the heart of Gujarat, the stronghold of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
The party’s top leadership, led by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, used the occasion to challenge the BJP’s narrative around Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India’s first Home Minister, accusing the saffron party of “appropriating” Patel’s legacy while ignoring his ideological opposition to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
“Sardar Patel had clear disagreements with the RSS’s divisive ideology,” Kharge said, referencing Patel’s own writings following Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination in 1948.
Strategic Venue, Political Message
The choice of Ahmedabad and the Sardar Patel Memorial is seen as a symbolic counter to the BJP’s long-standing attempt to cast Patel as a nationalist icon aligned with Hindutva politics. Congress also held the 85th All India Congress Committee (AICC) session nearby, on the Sabarmati riverbank between the Sabarmati and Kochrab Ashrams—both closely associated with Mahatma Gandhi, the party’s ideological anchor.
By invoking Patel’s institutional commitment to secularism and national unity, Congress aims to reclaim space within Gujarat’s political memory while bolstering its national positioning ahead of upcoming elections.
A Battle of Legacies
While the BJP has invested heavily in promoting the ‘Statue of Unity’—a 182-metre Patel monument in Kevadia—Congress is now seeking to remind voters of Patel’s role within the Congress fold, including his crackdown on the RSS after Gandhi’s assassination.
“You can’t cherry-pick history to suit your narrative,” said a senior Congress leader. “Patel was a Congressman, not a mascot of Hindutva.”
The Bigger Picture
The Congress party’s latest maneuver is part of a broader effort to reposition itself as the true inheritor of India’s freedom movement values, amid BJP’s cultural and political dominance. While it remains to be seen whether this strategy can shift the political tide in Gujarat or nationally, it underscores the increasing contest over historical memory in India’s polarized political landscape.
