Javadekar rewrites history, says Nehru and Patel were hanged

Mangalore Today News Network

Bhopa, Aug 23, 2016: The BJP is slipping on history, again. Addressing a public meeting in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara on Monday, human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar said, “The fight for independence that began in 1857 ended 90 years later when we threw the British out. We salute freedom fighters…. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Pandit (Jawahar Lal Nehru), Bhagat Singh and Rajguru who were hanged.”

The minister - who is responsible for the education portfolio - got his facts wrong. India’s first prime minister Nehru died of natural causes in 1964. He was 74.

Patel, who went on be independent India’s first home minister, died in 1950 at the age of 75. Bose’s death is still a matter of debate. The freedom fighter disappeared after a plane crash in Taiwan in 1945.

Bhagat Singh and Rajguru were indeed executed by the British in 1931.

The minister’s gaffe came during the Tiranga Yatra launched to mark India’s 70th Independence Day. Several BJP leaders and lawmakers, carrying the Tricolour, or the Tiranga, have fanned out across the country in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to spread awareness about India’s freedom struggle and inculcate a feeling of nationalism.