Congress leader Jairam Ramesh confronted Defence Minister Rajnath Singh outside Parliament, handing him copies of Vallabhbhai Patel’s daughter Maniben Patel’s diary entries in Gujarati to counter Singh’s recent claim that Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to build the Babri Masjid using public funds.

Ramesh approached Singh the moment he stepped out of his car at the Makarp Dwar entrance. He told the minister that he had “especially brought” the original diary pages in Gujarati. Singh responded, “we have it in English”, after which Ramesh placed before him both the Gujarati extracts, as published in a book, and their Hindi translation. Singh, heading inside Parliament, said he did not know Gujarati.

According to Ramesh, there is “no mention” in these diary entries of the allegation made by Singh.

See Full Page