Charge of Jammu and Kashmir should have been given to Sardar Patel, says Thawarchand Gehlot

INDORE: Blaming India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's policies for terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Minister Thawarchand Gehlot said here today that if the charge of the border state would have been given to India's then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, militancy would not have existed in that state.

"Nehru did not hand over responsibility of Jammu and Kashmir to Patel and kept it with him, but Nehru failed to keep this border state intact," Gehlot said on the occasion of the ' Run For Unity' programme organised on the occasion Patel's 139th birth anniversary.

"If the responsibility of keeping the border state intact was handed over to Patel, then terrorism would not have been able to exist in that state," Gehlot, who holds charge of the Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry said.

Gehlot said that Patel had laid the foundation of India by merging 565 princely states into the country.

However, the Congress had ensured that his legacy went into oblivion, the minister alleged.

Targeting the Nehru-Gandhi family he said, "This country was not just liberated by the Nehru-Gandhi family. Many leaders laid down their lives for the nation's Independence, but their sacrifices were not remembered".