BJP's attempts to 'adopt' Patel show it has no great freedom fighter of its own: Priyanka

Describing Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as a stalwart of the Congress who was strongly opposed to the RSS, party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said she felt happy seeing the BJP's attempts to "adopt" the "Iron Man of India" as it showed that the saffron party did not have a great freedom fighter of its own.

Her attack on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came on a day the government organised a series of events across the country to mark the birth anniversary of Patel, the first home minister of the country.

"Sardar Patel was a stalwart of the Congress who was devoted to the ideology of the party," Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

He was a close companion of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of the country, and was strongly opposed to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the BJP, the Congress general secretary said.

"Today, seeing the BJP trying to adopt him and pay tributes to him gives a lot of happiness, because two things are clear from this action of the BJP: 1. It has no great freedom fighter of its own. Almost all of them were associated with the Congress. 2. Even enemies have to bow before great men like Sardar Patel one day," she added.