New Delhi [India], May 29 (ANI): Congress leader Pawan Khera on Thursday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his recent remarks related to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), stating that he should stop 'misquoting and misappropriating' statesmen from Congress for 'petty politics of hate and divisiveness'.

He said it was 'embarrassing' for the Prime Minister to be fact-checked on X.

'For those of us who care about facts, Sardar Patel's words elucidate his weighted caution regarding PoK considering the military realities of the time. As for Modi, who has never quite shown care for truth - he should stop misquoting, misappropriating or co-opting statesmen from Congress like Sardar Patel for his own petty politics of hate and divisiveness. Besides, it is rather embarrassing for the PM of India to be fact-checked on X,' Khera said in a post on X.

Khera cited a letter dated June 4, 1948, written by the first Union Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to N Gopalaswami Ayyangar, chief drafter of Article 370, which stated, 'The military position is none too good, and I am afraid our military resources are strained to the uttermost. How long we are to carry on this unfortunate affair, it is difficult to foresee.'

The Congress leader asserted that Patel's words clarify his 'weighted caution' regarding PoK.

His remarks come after PM Modi on Tuesday said that the April 22 attack on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam as well as other terror incidents could have been avoided if India had heeded Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's advice in 1947.

Addressing an event in Gujarat's Gandhinagar, the Prime Minister said that Patel had advised not to stop the armed forces before they reached Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

'In 1947, Mother India was torn into pieces. Katni chahiye thi zanjeerein par kaat di gayi bhujayein (The chains should have been cut, but the arms were chopped off.) The country was divided into three parts, and on the same night, the first terrorist attack took place on the soil of Kashmir,' PM Modi said. (ANI)