HISTORY LESSONS

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh staged a Parliament-corridor intervention on December 11, intercepting Union defence minister Rajnath Singh and pressing into his hands a set of original diary entries by Maniben Patel, daughter of Vallabhbhai Patel.

- SIDDHANT JUMDE

The Congress has been on attack mode ever since the defence minister remarked at a meeting in Vadodara that Jawaharlal Nehru had wanted state funds to build the Babri Masjid but Patel stopped him.

Rajnath's office says it had cited Inside Story of Sardar Patel (The Diary of Maniben Patel 193650) by Prabha Chopra, published in 2011, to bolster the claim. But Ramesh says the entries published in the 2025 volume, Samarpit Padchhayo Sardarno, by R.S. Patel ('Aaresh') demolish Rajnath's version. It seems, in politics, it takes only one diary to spark a new version of history.

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