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Govt trivialising sacrifices of freedom fighters: Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi, who tested positive for Covid-19 for the second time a few days back, couldn’t attend the flag hoisting ceremony at the Congress headquarters in Delhi
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday alleged that a “self-engaged government” is determined to “trivialise” the sacrifices of freedom fighters and achievements of the country and cautioned that the party will “strongly oppose” any such attempt for “political gains”.
Gandhi, who recently tested positive for Covid-19 for a second time, did not attend the flag hoisting ceremony at the Congress headquarters here. In her absence, senior leader and Congress Working Committee member Ambika Sonia unfurled the Tricolour.
In a statement on India’s 76th Independence Day, Gandhi said that in the last 75 years, India has left an indelible mark on the international arena in all fields, including science, education, health and information technology, through the hard work of its talented people.
“India established a free, fair and transparent election system under the leadership of its visionary leaders, while strengthening democracy and constitutional institutions,” she said.
“Along with this, India has made its proud identity as a leading country that has always lived up to the pluralistic test of language-religion-sect,” she added.
However, “today’s self-engaged government is bent on trivialising the great sacrifices of our freedom fighters and the glorious achievements of the country, which can never be accepted,” the Congress chief said.
“The Indian National Congress will strongly oppose any misrepresentation of historical facts for political gains and every attempt to put great national leaders like (Mahatma) Gandhi-Nehru-(Sardar Vallabhbhai) Patel-(Abul Kalam) Azad ji in the dock on the ground of falsity,” she added.
Gandhi’s remarks came a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in a video posted on its official Twitter account, blamed Nehru and the Communist Party for the Partition in 1947. The Congress hit back, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi was using “the most traumatic historical event as fodder for his current political battles”.
The Congress had also taken strong exception to the exclusion of India’s first prime minister Nehru in advertisements in newspapers in Karnataka on freedom fighters and termed the action “pathetic”.
The BJP declined to comment on Gandhi’s remarks.
