New Delhi [India], May 29: Congress leader Pawan Khera on Thursday strongly criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his recent comments regarding Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), accusing the PM of distorting historical facts for political gains.
Khera stated that Modi’s attempt to link Patel’s stance to current issues in Kashmir was a deliberate “misappropriation” of a Congress stalwart for the sake of “petty politics of hate and divisiveness.”
“For those of us who care about facts, Sardar Patel’s words elucidate his weighted caution regarding PoK considering the military realities of the time,” Khera posted on social media platform X.
“Modi, who has never quite shown care for truth, should stop misquoting, misappropriating or co-opting statesmen from Congress like Sardar Patel. It is rather embarrassing for the PM of India to be fact-checked on X,” he added.
To support his claim, Khera referred to a letter dated June 4, 1948, written by Sardar Patel to N Gopalaswami Ayyangar, the key architect of Article 370. In the letter, Patel reportedly wrote:
“The military position is none too good, and I am afraid our military resources are strained to the uttermost. How long we are to carry on this unfortunate affair, it is difficult to foresee.”
Khera argued that this statement reveals Patel’s strategic restraint rather than an aggressive military stance on PoK.
The Congress leader’s comments came in response to PM Modi’s speech in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on Tuesday, where the Prime Minister blamed past political decisions for present-day violence in Jammu and Kashmir, including the recent April 22 attack on tourists in Pahalgam.
Modi had said:
“In 1947, Mother India was torn into pieces. The chains should have been cut, but the arms were chopped off… If we had listened to Sardar Patel and not stopped our forces, PoK would have been a part of India today.”
The debate highlights an ongoing war of narratives between the BJP and Congress on the legacy of national leaders like Sardar Patel and their role in shaping post-independence India’s territorial integrity.