Jairam Ramesh posts Maniben’s diary, calls out Rajnath Singh on twisting facts

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has pointed how Defence Minister Rajnath Singh misrepresented historical records in his remarks about Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s views on the Babri Masjid and public funding of religious projects. In a post on X, Ramesh claimed the statements made by the Minister were not supported by documentary evidence and demanded a public apology.

The controversy stems from Singh’s speech in Vadodara during the ‘Sardar Sabha’, held to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Patel. In his address, the Defence Minister described Patel as “truly secular”, and said the first Home Minister of independent India had objected to using public money for the Babri Masjid.

The defence minister further said that the reconstruction of the Somnath Temple had been funded entirely through public contributions, without any government expenditure.

Ramesh rejected these assertions, arguing that they were at odds with primary sources. He pointed to a diary entry written by Patel’s daughter, Maniben, which appears in the 2025 publication Samarpit Padchhayo Sardarno by CA R. S. Patel ‘Aaresh’, released by the Sardar Patel Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Society.

According to Ramesh, the contents of the diary entry contradict the narrative presented by Singh.

“There is a huge difference between what is contained in the original diary entry and what Rajnath Singh ji and his fellow distorians are propagating,” he said on social media, posting images of the pages from the book. He accused the Minister of spreading “falsehoods”, alleging it was done to align more closely with the Prime Minister.

“The Defence Minister must apologise for the falsehoods he is spreading, simply in order to improve his relationship with the PM,” Ramesh wrote.

Neither Singh nor the Ministry of Defence has responded to Ramesh’s comments at the time of publication. The exchange adds to an increasingly heated political atmosphere, as debates over historical interpretation continue to surface in the run-up to key state elections