Hyderabad: Hailing the contribution of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in uniting the country, Union Minister Parshottam Rupala on Thursday said a true tribute to the leader would be by making the country 'Shreshtha Bharat'.
Speaking on the occasion of his birth anniversary here, the Union Minister of State for Agriculture said the true tribute to Sardar Patel would be by making India 'Swachh Bharat' (clean India), 'Samarth Bharat' (prosperous India) and 'Shreshtha Bharat' (Superior India).
"We should all work towards making the country 'Shreshtha Bharat', which will be a true tribute to Sardar Sahab," he said.
Every Indian remembers with pride Sardar Patel's work in integrating several princely states, the Union Minister said adding "He (Patel) united the country and gave us 'Ek Bharat' (One India) and now our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) has called upon all of us to work towards making it superior."
Rupala further reached out to everyone to visit and pay their tributes at the 'Statue of Unity' (182-metre statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel) in Kevadiya of Gujarat.
Recalling Patel's role in the merger of the erstwhile Hyderabad princely state with the Indian union, Telangana BJP President K Laxman, said the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led government in the state was not recognising Patel's contribution and slammed it for not celebrating the Telangana Liberation Day.
The erstwhile Hyderabad state of Nizam was merged with the Indian Union on September 17, 1948, and the BJP has been demanding that the day be officially celebrated as 'Liberation Day'.
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