New Delhi: The Congress said today that the BJP was “adopting” leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as its own participation in the freedom struggle was absent and accused the party of rewriting history.

The Opposition party’s criticism came on a day the government marked Patel’s birth anniversary with fanfare.

Asked about the BJP’s charge that Patel was not given Bharat Ratna till a non-Congress government came to power, Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said, “This business of trying to adopt Congress leaders is a clear indication and admission by the BJP that their participation in the freedom struggle was not only missing but is totally out of context.”

“They are now trying to adopt Congress leaders and trying to rewrite history,” he said.

Vadakkan said if an award is given or not given that is history, “we are into ground reality”.

“What did Sardar Patel Ji do and who did he ban, these are issues that are in public domain. Sardar Patel Ji is a Congressman, will remain in the hearts of people, awards do not matter for him,” he said.

The Congress leader also asserted that the party did not want certificates from anybody to celebrate their leaders.

“Our leaders have been there and they are Congress leaders. Let there be no misunderstanding about it,” he said.

Asked about the mediation of Sri Sri Ravishankar on the Ram Temple issue in Ayodhya, he alleged that, “Sri Sri is representing the government interests.”

The Congress leader said the Supreme Court has made it very clear that a settlement is possible, but asked as to who had appointed people like the Art of Living chief to take charge.

“Now the whole issue is, if they are government agents working towards this, I think that defeats the very purpose the Supreme Court mentioned,” he said.