Gorata (Karnataka): Union Home Minister Amit Shah turned a page in India's post-independence history asking people to remember the time when hundreds were killed by the army of a cruel Nizam in Gorata just for hoisting a 2.5-ft tall tricolor. However, a 103-ft tall tricolour is now being erected at the same place, he said. Shah was at Girata village in Karnataka on Sunday to inaugurate a memorial for those who fought for Hyderabad's integration post-independence.
Shah also launched an attack against Congress for not giving adequate acknowledgment to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He launched a 20 ft tall statue of Patel at Bidar. The statue of Sardar Patel is a symbol of the significant role played by our first Home Minister in ousting the Nizam from Hyderabad, he said adding that Patel was the reason why Bidar could become a part of India.
Further attacking the Congress Shah said that due to Congress' politics of polarisation, in the greed for the vote bank, the party never commemorated the people who sacrificed themselves for independence, especially for the independence of Hyderabad.
Drawing attention to a case in point, Amit Shah said that reservation provided to the minority was not constitutional. There is no provision in the Constitution to provide reservation on the basis of religion, he asserted. However, the Congress government provided reservation to the minorities because of their politics of polarisation. Amit Shah then added that the BJP government has now scrapped that reservation and distributed the benefits to the Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities.
The 224-member Karnataka Legislative Assembly will go to polls in May this year. The Congress party has already announced its first list of candidates. The BJP which suffers from anti-incumbency in the state is trying its best to hold on to the only state in south India where it is in power on its own.
