Raipur/New Delhi, June 10: BJP chief Amit Shah dubbed Mahatma Gandhi as a “bahut chatur baniya”, a reference to his mercantile caste, sparking a political row with the Congress and other opposition parties demanding an apology from him for insulting the Father of the Nation.
Shah made the reference to the mercantile caste to which Gandhi was born while telling a select audience of “prominent citizens” in Raipur Friday how the “bahut chatur baniya” (very shrewd baniya) had rightly advised dissolution of the Congress after Independence. Shah had also said the Congress was not rooted in any ideology or principles and was sort of a “special purpose vehicle” to secure freedom. Facing flak, Shah Saturday said the import of his comments was heard by the people who were present at Friday’s gathering.
“Maine jis reference me kaha hai waha sab logo ne suna, Surjewala ji ko abhi Gandhiji ke bahut sare siddhanto ka jawab dena hai. (Those present during the programme heard my comments and the reference in which they were made. AICC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala is yet to answer about many principles of Gandhi ji),” Shah told a press conference in Raipur when asked about AICC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala’s demand for his apology over the remark. Leading the opposition charge, Surjewala demanded an apology from Shah, BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Calling Shah a “trader of power”, Surjewala said his remarks were “an insult to freedom fighters, their
sacrifices and also to Gandhi.”
While West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed the comments “uncalled for and unethical”, CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy demanded that Shah tender an apology for making the “derogatory” remarks.
Former CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat also hit out at Shah, saying his remark reveals “the contempt the BJP- RSS has for Gandhiji.” At Friday’s event, Shah had said, “the Congress party… was constituted as a club by a British man. It was later converted into an organisation engaged in freedom struggle.” It had in its fold both right and left-leaning people like Maulana Azad, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and many others, he said.
“People of various ideologies and thinking associated themselves with Congress to gain independence. Congress didn’t have any ideology or set of principles and it was only used as a special purpose vehicle to secure freedom. “And therefore, Mahatma Gandhi, with a lot of foresight — he was a very shrewd baniya — he knew what was going to happen in future. He had said immediately after the Independence that Congress should be dissolved.”
Mahatma Gandhi couldn’t do that, but now some people are completing the task of dissolution of Congress, the BJP chief added, in an apparent jibe at the present Congress leadership. Rather than fighting casteism, BJP identified even the Father of the Nation with his caste. PTI