Motera stadium renaming: RSS taking revenge on Sardar Patel, says Congress; BJP hits back

Renaming of the refurbished Sardar Patel cricket stadium in Ahmedabad has not gone well with the opposition parties. The stadium was named after Prime Minister Narendra Modi triggering a political slugfest with Congress calling it an insult to every Indian.

The stadium has become the first-ever public place to be named after PM Modi. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that the renaming of the stadium after PM Modi and its two ends after Reliance and Adani has revealed the truth.

With the ‘HumDoHumareDo’ hashtag, Gandhi wrote on Twitter, “Beautiful how the truth reveals itself. Narendra Modi stadium, – Adani end, – Reliance end, With Jay Shah presiding.”

Rahul has been alleging that the Modi government works only for its corporate friends including Ambanis and Adanis and the renaming of stadium’s Pavilions after these corporates have given him another opportunity to fire a fresh salvo on the BJP.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that the move to rename the stadium is an insult to Sardar Patel. “Saheb’s 3 schemes have been successful – ‘Sell’ scheme, ‘Stop’ scheme, ‘Change name’ scheme,” tweeted Surjewala with hashtag ‘Sardar_Patel_Ka_Apman’.

Gujarat Congress Spokesperson Dr Manish Doshi said that the move is revenge by RSS. “Sardar Patel stadium in Ahmedabad is renamed as Narendra Modi Stadium..! RSS is taking revenge on Sardar Patel for banning RSS. #MoteraCricketStadium,” he tweeted.

However, the government tried to clarify that the name change involves only the Motera stadium while the sports complex where it is located will continue to be named after Sardar Patel.

“The name of the Sports Complex is Sardar Patel Sports Enclave. Only the name of the Cricket Stadium, within the complex, has been named after Narendra Modi. Ironically, ‘The Family’, which never respected Sardar Patel, even after his death, is now making hue and cry,” said Union Minister Prakash Javadekar.

Hitting back at Congress, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “I want to ask Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi that while they have objection over renaming of Motera Stadium to Narendra Modi Stadium, Have they ever praised world’s tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Kevadia? Have they even visited it?”

BJP President JP Nadda said that Prime Minister Modi had launched campaigns like ‘Khelo India’ and ‘Fit India’ to promote sports and it’s his vision that Ahmedabad is being established as the sports city of India. “Hon’ble Prime Minister’s untiring efforts and policies will help India establish itself at the highest position in the world of sports. Naming the world’s largest stadium after Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is a humble attempt to honour his vision,” said Nadda in a tweet.

Motera stadium is the world’s largest stadium with a seating capacity of 1,10,000 people.