Sardar Patel was okay with J&K joining Pakistan: Congress spokesman Jairam Ramesh

The Congress responded sharply to PM Narendra Modi's veiled attack on late PM Jawaharlal Nehru on Tuesday. After Modi said "one person" could not resolve the merger of J&K with India whereas Sardar Patel resolved the merger of many princely states with the country, Congress spokesman Jairam Ramesh said Patel was "okay" with J&K joining Pakistan when the Nawab of Junagadh acceded to Pakistan and that it was only because of his friendship with Nehru and respect for Mahatma Gandhi that Sheikh Abdullah stood for J&K's accession to India.

PM Modi has once again "whitewashed the real history and overlooked facts only to castigate Nehru on J&K, Ramesh said in a post on Twitter, "Sheikh Abdullah championed accession to India entirely because of his friendship with and admiration for Nehru, and his respect for Gandhi. Sardar Patel was okay with J&K joining Pakistan till September 13, 1947 when the Nawab of Junagadh acceded to Pakistan."

All this has been documented well in Rajmohan Gandhi's biography of Sardar Patel, said Ramesh. "These facts are also known to the PM's new man in J&K," he said, attaching a page of Patel's biography.