Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, said, "Sardar Patel, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jinnah studied in the same institute and became barristers. They helped (India) get freedom and never backed away from any struggle." He also referred to the ban imposed on the RSS by Sardar Patel, the then home minister, after Mahatma Gandhi's assassination in 1948. He said that Sardar Patel was the only one who could have done it.