'Terrorists should have been dealt with in 1947 but...': PM Modi says Sardar Patel's advice was IGNORED - Here's what he suggested

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while gathering a pool of people in Gujarat on Tuesday (May 27), said that terrorists in Kashmir should have been dealt with in 1947 itself if Congress had considered the advice of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The Indian PM blamed the 1947 partition for the attack in Pahalgam on April 22 in which 26 people were killed.

“When the Partition happened in 1947, the chains should have been cut at that time, but instead, the country was divided into three parts. Soon after, the first terrorist attack was reported in Kashmir, and Pakistan occupied one part of Kashmir," PM Modi said.

“If we had killed these Mujahideens; if we had listened to Sardar Patel, he wanted the Army not to stop until we get back PoK,” Modi said.

What was Sardar Patel's advice?

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, first Deputy Prime Minister and home minister of India, had argued in 1947 that the Indian Army should not cease its military actions until India reclaims Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). But, PM Modi said, Patel’s “counsel was ultimately disregarded".

"In 1947, when Mother India was partitioned into three parts... that very night, the first terror attack occurred on the soil of Kashmir. One part of Mother India was forcibly taken over by Pakistan in the name of 'mujahideen'. On that day, those so-called mujahideen should have been thrown into the pit of death," the PM said.

"And it was Sardar Patel's wish that until POK is taken back, the army should not stop. But Sardar Sahib’s words were not followed," PM Modi added.

The PM said since Patel's advice was not followed, the bloodshed by these "mujahideen has been continuing for the last 75 years." He also said that the Pahalgam attack was "just a distorted form of the same."

'What were his ideological forefathers doing in 1947?'

Responding to PM Modi's statement, Congress leader Pawan Khera alleged that it was PM Modi's "ideological forefathers" who were critical of Patel.

"He has no idea of history or basic democratic courtesy. What were his ideological forefathers doing in 1947? They were criticising Patel, burning his effigies, and making cartoons of Sardar Patel, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, Mahatma Gandhi, the famous cartoon of Ravan with ten heads. Don’t take the PM seriously," Khera said.