Thiruvananthapuram: A day after his reference to Indira Gandhi as "mother of India" received widespread attention, Union Minister Suresh Gopi on Sunday called the former prime minister the "real architect of India post independence", even as he clarified that his remarks were misinterpreted by the media.
The actor-turned-politician said he was a person talking from the heart, and he firmly believed that there was nothing wrong in what he said about Indira Gandhi. While addressing the media here, the BJP leader asked the reporters whether they don't understand the "contextual meaning of language".
"What did I say? As far as the Congress is concerned...whether anyone likes it or not... K Karunakaran is the father of the Congress party in Kerala. In India, its mother is Indira Gandhi. I said this from my heart," Suresh Gopi said. The minister of state for petroleum and tourism, however, continued to lavish praises on Indira Gandhi on Sunday as well.
"Simply because my father's family was a Congress family, my mother's family worked up to the formation of Janasangh in Kerala... I was in the SFI. But the reason behind my shift was not political. It was emotional. I will live my life emotionally as well, acceptable to all classes of life, all segments of life, all levels of life... My parentage, my traditions, the essence of Sanatana Dharma- I have to perform all those valuable traits. Simply because Indira Gandhi is Congress, and for that Draconian act of hers, I cannot sway away from attributing. I call her the real architect of India post-independence until her death. I have to make these attributions anyway. I cannot forget a person who had worked sincerely for the country only because she belonged to the political rival party," he added.
While visiting the memorial of late Congress Chief Minister K Karunakaran in Thrissur on Saturday, Gopi had described Indira Gandhi as the "mother of India" and Karunakaran as a "courageous administrator". The BJP leader had also said that he considered Karunakaran and Marxist veteran E K Nayanar his "political gurus".
Gopi said as he viewed Indira Gandhi as "bharathathinte mathavu" (mother of India), Karunakaran was the "father of the Congress party in the state" for him. He explained that describing Karunakaran as the "father" of the Congress in Kerala was not a disrespect to the founders or co-founders of the grand old party in the state. Gopi won the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat recently, opening the BJP's electoral account in Kerala.
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