#SardarPatelB'day: Delhi BJP organizes 'Rashtriya Ekta Daud', hails Patel's contribution
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Delhi unit of BJP organized a run, 'Rashtriya Ekta Daud', in the city today morning to celebrate the 143rd birth anniversary of India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Several senior BJP leaders and Union Ministers like Ravi Shankar Prasad participated in the event. Taking part in the run at Gokalpur, Prasad said, "Sardar Patel was a great leader who united the princely states."
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Run organized in Keshavpuram, Chandni Chowk, Mehrauli
Seconding what Prasad said, Delhi BJP Chief, Manoj Tiwari, noted Patel's initiative ensured people's free movement across the country. Union Ministers Harsh Vardhan and Vijay Goel joined the participants of the run in Keshavpuram and Chandni Chowk, respectively. The party's General Secretary (organization) Ramlal took part in the run at Mehrauli, while his colleague Bhupendra Yadav attended it in New Delhi district.
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Prasad attacks Congress for not recognizing Patel's contribution
Meanwhile, taking a dig at the Congress, Prasad said it took 41 years to honor the first Home Minister of India with Bharat Ratna (which Patel was bestowed with in 1991) as the Congress was concerned with only one family. "We don't oppose Nehru, but we protest the idea that everything was done by his family and nothing by Sardar Patel," Prasad said.
Commemoration
Patel's statue unveiled by PM, dubbed as 'Statue of Unity'
Separately, on Patel's birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today unveiled the 182-meter-high statue of Patel in Gujarat's Narmada district. Known as the 'Statue of Unity', the figurine is touted to be the world's tallest. It is twice the height of the Statue of Liberty in the US and is built on Sadhu Bet, an islet near the Sardar Sarovar Dam.