Vaghela asks PM to honour heirs of princely states at 'Statue of Unity'

Gandhinagar : Former Gujarat chief minister and expelled Congress rebel Shankersinh Vaghela on Wednesday called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to honour the heirs of all princely states, which were annexed into India by the efforts of Sardar Patel whose statue he would unveil on October 31.

In a letter, Vaghela reminded Modi that it was the effort of Sardar Patel to create a united India that bore fruits.

"Although, it may be too late now, I request you to honour all the heirs later some time in Delhi publicly and also ask them to share their recollections of their ancestors' sacrifices," Vaghela said in the letter.

"Not only that, but I demand that all the names of such princely states with their logos in a chronological order of their merger in the Union be permanently etched in stone and placed just at the nearest place to the Statue of Unity so that the visitors may know of the sacrifices by these small kingdoms," writes Vaghela.

Out of the 562 princely states that Sardar annexed into India, 222 were from Gujarat, Vaghela reminded Modi.