Sunday, November 3, 2024

‘Respecting all religions doesn’t mean one should suppress their religion’: S Jaishankar on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel being unapologetic about his Hindu identity

India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar lavished praises on the country’s first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for respecting the country’s multicultural pluralism while unabashedly wearing his Hindu identity on his sleeves.

Responding to a question at the Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture on Governance, Jaishankar said, “All religions must be respected, but respect for religions doesn’t mean your religion needs to be suppressed…and that, unfortunately, because of the political ideological of the day, it took that direction,” EAM Dr S Jaishankar said.

Speaking about Sardar Patel, S Jaishankar further added, “I think he would have been very uncomfortable with the fact that somewhere people were almost defensive of being a Hindu…If you look at issues thereafter like the inauguration of the Somnath Temple, which became a major political issue, so it is hypothetical but I would say, here was a person with beliefs, faith, and tradition who was very comfortable in his own skin.”