Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for renaming Sardar Patel Stadium as Narendra Modi Stadium.
Gandhi, 50, took to Twitter and wrote: "Beautiful how the truth reveals itself. Narendra Modi stadium - Adani end - Reliance end With Jay Shah presiding."
He then shared the same tweet in Hindi:
Veteran Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also hit out the BJP.
Reacting to a news report, Tharoor wrote: "Maybe they just realised the stadium was named for a Home Minister who had banned their parent organisation! Or maybe this is advance booking to ensure the next visiting Head of State is hosted here, like Trump? Or is this the beginning of a legacy-creation-thru-labelling spree?"
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Earlier in the day, President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the world's largest cricket arena in Ahmedabad, the refurbished Sardar Patel Stadium, which will now be known as Narendra Modi stadium -- renamed after the country's Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, sports minister Kiren Rijiju has defended the renaming of the refurbished Sardar Patel cricket stadium after PM Modi, saying the sports complex, as a whole, remains in the name of the country's first home minister.
"The name of the whole Sports Complex is Sardar Patel Sports Enclave. Only the name of one Cricket Stadium, within that complex has been named as #NarendramodiStadium," Rijiju said.
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"Ironically, "The Parivaar", which never respected Sardar Patel, even after his death, is now making hue & cry!," he added referring to the criticism by opposition leader Rahul Gandhi.
"In 2007, Smt Sonia Gandhi came to Arunachal Pradesh and changed beautiful Arunachal University as Rajiv Gandhi University, laid foundation for Rajiv Gandhi Polytechnic, after having Indira Gandhi Park, Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Nehru Museum, Jawahar Nehru College, list is endless...," he tweeted.
The state-of-the-art facility can accommodate an awe-inspiring 1.32 lakh spectators.
The venue is hosting the third Test match, a day-night affair, between India and England. India dismissed England for 112 with local lad Axar Patel taking a six-wicket haul.
"This stadium was conceptualised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat. He was president of the Gujarat Cricket Association at that time," Kovind said in his address after the inauguration.
"This stadium is an example of eco-friendly development," he added.
The President inaugurated the stadium in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju among a host of other dignitaries.
"We have decided to name it after the country's Prime Minister. It was Modi ji's dream project," said Shah after the inauguration.
The President also performed the ground-breaking ceremony for a sports complex in the stadium, to be named Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel sports enclave, for disciplines like football, hockey, basketball, kabbadi, boxing, and lawn tennis among others.
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"I am confident that this enclave will give a new global identity to Ahmedabad in terms of world-class sports infrastructure," Kovind said.
The venue will also host the fourth and final game of the series, starting March 4.
