Kevadia/New Delhi [India], November 1 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched a blistering attack on Congress as he paid tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his 150th birth anniversary and said the policies made by India's first Home Minister, the decisions he took created a new history and he achieved the unification of more than 550 princely states with the country.

Addressing the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas programme in Kevadia in Gujarat, PM Modi said Congress 'not only inherited the party and power from the British, but it also imbibed the mentality of slavery'.

Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge, who interacted with the media in the national capital, hit back and accused the BJP and the RSS of trying to appropriate Sardar Patel and his legacy 'when he had banned the organisation after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi'.

PM Modi said when the British divided Bengal in 1905, Vande Mataram became the voice of every citizen in protest, became the voice of the unity and solidarity of the country.

'The British even tried to ban the very idea of saying Vande Mataram. The British were not successful in this attempt! The slogan of Vande Mataram kept echoing from every corner of India. However, the work which the British could not do, was done by the Congress. Congress removed a portion of Vande Mataram on religious grounds. That is, Congress divided the society and also furthered the agenda of the British. And today I am saying one thing with great responsibility - the day Congress decided to break, cut and divide Vande Mataram, on that very day it laid the foundation of the partition of India. If Congress had not committed that sin, the picture of India would have been different today,' PM Modi said.

He said Sardar Patel placed the sovereignty of the country above everything else, but unfortunately, in the years following his demise, the then governments were not as serious about the sovereignty of the country.

'On the one hand, the mistakes made in Kashmir, on the other hand, the problems arising in the North-East and the Naxalite-Maoist terrorism that flourished at various places across the country, these were direct challenges to the sovereignty of the country. However, instead of following Sardar Sahib's policies, the governments of that era chose a spineless approach. The country suffered the consequences of this in the form of violence and bloodshed,' he said.

PM Modi said many in today's younger generation may not know that Sardar Patel wanted the entire Kashmir region to be merged, just as he had merged other princely states.

'But Nehru ji did not let his wish be fulfilled. Kashmir was divided with a separate constitution and a separate flag. The country burned in the fire of the mistake that Congress had made on Kashmir for decades. Due to the poor policies of Congress, a part of Kashmir went under the illegal occupation of Pakistan. Pakistan gave impetus to terrorism, State sponsored terrorism.Kashmir and the country have paid such a heavy price. Yet, Congress has always been submissive to terrorism,' he alleged.

'Congress forgot Sardar Saheb's vision, but we did not forget. After 2014, the country once again witnessed his inspiring steely resolve. Today, Kashmir has broken free from the shackles of Article 370 and has fully integrated into the mainstream. Today even Pakistan and the masters of terrorism have come to know what is the real strength of India! The entire world had seen in Operation Sindoor that today, if anyone dares to raise an eyebrow at India, India enters their homes and strikes back. Every time India's response is bigger than before, more decisive than before. This is also a message to the enemies of India, this is the India of Iron Man Sardar Patel, it never compromises on its security and honour,' he added.

PM Modi said that India's biggest success in the last 11 years regarding national security is breaking the backbone of Naxalism-Maoist terrorism.

'Before 2014, the situation in our country was such that Naxalites and Maoists ruled within the country, in the heart of the country. The country's Constitution was not enforced in Naxalite areas. The police administration was unable to function there. Naxalites used to openly issue new decrees. They prevented the construction of roads. Schools, colleges and hospitals were blown up with bombs. And the government and administration seemed helpless in the face of them,' he said.

'After 2014, our government launched a massive attack on Naxalism-Maoist terrorism. We also marginalized urban Naxalite supporters and urban Naxalites. We won the ideological battle and confronted them in their strongholds; the results are before the country today. Before 2014, about 125 districts of the country were under the grip of Maoist terror. Today, this number has declined to only 11,' he added.

The Prime Minister said Naxalism is still prevalent in serious manner only in three districts.

'And today, in the presence of Sardar Patel, from this land of Ekta Nagar, I assure the entire country that until the country is completely free from Naxalism, Maoism and that terror, we are not going to stop, we are not going to sit in peace.'

PM Modi said that infiltration poses a significant threat to the nation's unity and internal security. Foreign intruders kept coming into the country for decades, they kept occupying the resources of the countrymen, kept disturbing the demographic balance, kept putting the unity of the country at stake, but the previous governments kept turning a blind eye to such a big problem.

'The nation's security was deliberately jeopardized for vote bank politics. Now for the first time the country has decided to fight a decisive battle against this big threat. I have announced the Demography Mission from the Red Fort. Now today when we are raising this issue seriously, some people are putting their own interests above the national interest. These people are fighting a political battle to give rights to the infiltrators. They believe that once the country has been divided, it doesn't matter to them if it continues to be divided,' he said.

PM Modi said national unity in a democracy entails 'we respect diversity of ideas'.

'Differences of opinion are acceptable in democracy, but there should not be any differences of heart. But look at the irony, after independence, the very people to whom the country entrusted the responsibility, tried to kill the spirit of 'we the people'. They despised every person and organization that was different from their own thinking and ideology and tried to discredit it. Political untouchability was made a culture in the country. We all know what has happened to Sardar Patel and his legacy under Congress governments?'

'What did these people do with Baba Saheb Ambedkar during his lifetime and even after his death? What did they do to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose? Congress did the same to people like Dr. Lohia and Jayaprakash Narayan. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). What kind of attacks and conspiracies were made on the Sangh! Every effort was made to make untouchable every person and every idea that was outside of one party and one family,' he added.

PM Modi said unity is the foundation of the existence of a nation and society.

'As long as there is unity in the society, the integrity of the nation is safe. Therefore, to achieve the goal of a developed India, we have to foil every conspiracy that breaks the unity of the country, we have to foil it with the power of unity. That is why, today the country is continuously working on every front of national unity. This ritual of India's unity has four pillars. The first pillar of unity is cultural unity,' he said.

'It is India's culture that has kept India immortal as a nation, irrespective of political circumstances, for thousands of years. Our twelve Jyotirlingas, seven Puris, four Dhams, more than 50 Shaktipeeths, tradition of pilgrimages, these are the life energy which makes India a conscious nation. Today, we are carrying forward this tradition through events like Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam and Kashi Tamil Sangamam. Through International Yoga Day, we are also giving a new identity to India's great science of Yoga. Today, our yoga is becoming a medium to connect people,' he added.

In his press conference, Kharge said that he is in favour of banning the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the country.

'It is my personal opinion and I am saying it openly, that a ban should be imposed (on RSS). Because whatever is happening in the country today is a result of the BJP and the RSS activities,' Kharge said, answering a query.

'You can't taste the venom to find out whether it is good or bad, you can only die,' he remarked. Kharge extensively cited Sardar Patel's letters to Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Guru Golwalkar listing the reasons for banning the RSS.

Kharge also recalled Indira Gandhi's contributions on her death anniversary.

He said Indira Gandhi sacrificed her life to uphold the unity that Sardar Patel had forged for India.' 'While one was the Iron Man, the other was the Iron Lady,' he said.

'This is the contribution of the Congress and its leaders, that they not only liberated the country,

He accused the RSS and the BJP of spreading lies about differences between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel and quoted remarks of the two leaders said about each other.

He recalled that while Nehru used to say that Patel was an untiring leader who worked for the unity and integrity of the country, Patel used to describe Pandit Nehru as an ideal for the country and the leader of the masses.

'Those who were behind Gandhi's killing are today telling us that Congress does not value Patel,' he alleged.

He said, while it was good that the BJP had built a grand statue of Sardar Patel in his memory, it should also remember that it was the Congress, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in particular, who had laid the foundation of the Sardar Sarovar Dam that irrigates lakhs of hectares of land.

The Congress president also criticised the attempts of the BJP government 'to change history by deleting chapters on Mahatma Gandhi, Nathuram Godse, Gujarat riots and other important issues from the NCERT books'.

'History cannot be wiped out or destroyed,' Kharge remarked, adding that the truth will always remain alive and will not be erased despite all attempts to suppress it.

Hours after Kharge said that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) should be banned, his party colleague Karti Chidambaram seemed to differ with him on the practicality of the demand, stating that 'this kind of request obviously is not going to be acceded' and asked if a ban 'is really feasible and sustainable in today's legal environment'.

Answering query about Kharge's remarks, Karti Chidambaram said he does not agree with the RSS-BJP's political ideology and no organisation should indulge in any activity which causes some sort of distress to the unity and integrity of India.

'This kind of request obviously is not going to be acceded. There was a time when the RSS was banned and then the ban was revoked... I don't agree with the RSS-BJP's political ideology, but I'm not too sure whether a ban is really feasible and sustainable in today's legal environment. And you've got to also understand that the government today is run by members right from the Prime Minister who are ardent members of the RSS,' he said.

'This kind of argument, asking for the RSS to be banned, how is this government going to do it? Of course, no organisation should indulge in any activity which causes some sort of distress to the unity and integrity of India,' he added. (ANI)