Amit Shah in LS: 'Many, besides Nehru played a role in Dadra Nagar Haveli's liberation'

Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said in Lok Sabha that many personalities besides Jawaharlal Nehru were behind Dadra Nagar Haveli's liberation from Portugal. His remarks came in response to a statement by Saugata Roy (TMC) that India's first prime minister should be credited for the region's freedom. Shah said Babasaheb Purendre, Sudhir Phadke and Sainik School officer Prabhakar Kulkarni played a key role by putting their lives at stake.

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He said till 1954, the then government did little when Goa, Daman and Diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli were under Portuguese rule. The young men, he said, then launched an agitation, adding acclaimed singer Lata Mangeshkar held a programme in Pune to raise funds for the agitation. Shah said Nehru alone should not be credited for the liberation of these areas. Participating in the discussion on a bill which seeks to merge the Union Territories of Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Roy said Nehru should be credited for the region's liberation. 

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