Only cricket stadium renamed after PM Modi, complex continues to have Sardar Patel's name, clarfies Govt

Amid a controversy over a cricket stadium in Gujarat being renamed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government on Wednesday said the name change involves only the Motera stadium and the sports complex where it is located will continue to be named after Sardar Patel.

Soon after President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the world's largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, which will now be known as 'Narendra Modi stadium', social media was flooded with remarks including by some leaders of the Congress and other opposition parties who alleged that the renaming exercise amounted to an "insult" to Sardar Patel.

Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Ravi Shankar Prasad hit



out at the Congress leaders, saying those who never respected Sardar Patel were objecting to the stadium being named after Modi.

Asked about the allegations, Javadekar told reporters that only the Motera stadium has been renamed and the complex where it is located continues to be named after Vallabhbhai Patel.

Prasad, who was present alongside Javadekar at the media briefing after a cabinet meeting, took a swipe at the Congress leaders, asking whether party chief Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi have so far praised the world's tallest statue of Sardar Patel erected at Kevadiya in Gujarat.

Javadekar said the two Congress leaders have not even visited the statue.