Uproar Over Babri Mosque Fund Claim: Jairam Ramesh Hands Sardar Patel’s Daughter’s Book Pages to Rajnath Singh

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh has handed over some pages from the book of Maniben Patel to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh outside Parliament. Singh had cited this book to claim that Nehru wanted to get the Babri Masjid built with government money.

The Nehru-Babri dispute between the BJP and Congress is escalating daily. In this regard, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Thursday handed over some pages from a book by Maniben Patel, daughter of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as he arrived for the day's proceedings in Parliament. It is noteworthy that the Defence Minister had recently claimed, citing this book as a source, that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to build the Babri Masjid with government funds.

Singh said: "I don't know Gujarati"

Ramesh, handing over some pages from the Gujarati translation of the book titled 'Inside Story of Sardar Patel: The Diary of Maniben Patel' to the Defence Minister, said, "Sir, I have brought the Gujarati translation of Maniben Patel's diary specifically for you. Please do read it." To this, Singh replied with a slight smile, "I don't know Gujarati." Saying this, Singh took the pages with him and moved on.

Singh made this statement during a rally in Vadodara, Gujarat

Singh had recently made this statement about Nehru during a rally in Sadhali village of Vadodara district in Gujarat. During this event, Singh claimed that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had stopped Nehru from doing so. The BJP also supported Singh's statement and cited the book written by Sardar Patel's daughter, Maniben Patel, as evidence. The BJP also stated that Nehru did not like some temples in South India, despite their architectural beauty.

Sudhanshu Trivedi supported the statement

BJP Rajya Sabha MP and National Spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, while speaking to the media at the party headquarters, had said that the source of Singh's claims is Maniben Patel's book. Trivedi stated that page number 24 of this book mentions that Nehru had raised the issue of the Babri Masjid, but Patel made it clear that the government could not provide funds for building the mosque.

Congress released excerpts from the book on December 6

To counter Singh's statement, the Congress released some excerpts from Maniben Patel's book on December 6, calling the Defence Minister's statement false and demanding an apology. Jairam Ramesh had also shared screenshots of some pages from the book on his X account. He had said that there is a significant difference between what is written in the book and Singh's statement. In this post, Ramesh had described Singh as someone who distorts historical facts. After sharing pages from the book in the post, Ramesh now reached Parliament with copies of these pages and handed them over to Singh.