Javadekar rewrites history, says Nehru and Patel were hanged

During addressing a public meeting in Madhya Pradesh’s Chinaware on Monday, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said, “The struggle for the freedom of the country began in 1857 through freedom fighter that ended 90 years later and British was escaped. We salute freedom fighters such as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Pandit Nehru, Sardar Bhagat Singh and Rajguru who were hanged during the British administration.” These freedom fighters had sacrificed for free from the British rule. The minister - who is responsible for the education portfolio - got his facts wrong. India’s first prime minister Nehru died of natural causes in 1964. He was at the age of74 years. Patel, who went on be independent India’s first home minister, died in 1950 at the age of 75. Bose’s death is still a matter of debate. The freedom fighter disappeared after a plane crash in Taiwan in 1945. Freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and Rajguru were indeed executed by the British in 1931. The minister’s gaffe came during the Tiranga Yatra launched to mark India’s 70th Independence Day. A lot of  BJP leaders and lawmakers, carrying the Tricolour, or the Tiranga, have fanned out across the country in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to spread awareness about India’s freedom struggle and inculcate a feeling of nationalism.