Do Cong even know about Gita Press? Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi over Gandhi Peace Prize conferment

PM Modi said Gita Press has worked at "furthering social and cultural transformations among people" while Jairam Ramesh said it was like awarding Savarkar and Godse.

New Delhi: Hours after the Congress criticised the Centre for deciding to confer The Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 to Gita Press from Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, the saffron party hit back questioning whether the former wanted all recognitions to be bagged by one family.

Senior BJP leader and former Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi asked whether the Congress was even aware of the contribution of publisher Gita Press.

"The biggest problem of the Congress party is that it is unable to come out of their one-family and 'Pappu' allegiance culture. They think that all the Nobel prizes and all kinds of recognition should be limited to the kitty of only one family. Do they even know the relevance of Gita Press? The Gita Press has preserved the tradition, culture and ideology of the country. Now, they are raising questions on this as well," Naqvi said.

The Gandhi Peace Prize is given for contributions towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violence. Gita Press, which is among the oldest publishers of the world has published 41.7 crore books in 14 languages, including 16.21 crore Shrimad Bhagvad Gita.

Naqvi's remarks comes close on the heels of senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticising the Centre's decision and terming the selection of the publisher for the award as "travesty". Ramesh said giving the The Gandhi Peace Prize to Gita Press was like awarding "Savarkar and Godse".

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to congratulate Gita Press for being conferred the award. Modi said that the publisher had done commendable work in "furthering social and cultural transformations among people".

• I congratulate Gita Press, Gorakhpur on being conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize 2021. They have done commendable work over the last 100 years towards furthering social and cultural transformations among the people. @GitaPress https://t.co/B9DmkE9AvS

  — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 18, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  I congratulate Gita Press, Gorakhpur on being conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize 2021. They have done commendable work over the last 100 years towards furthering social and cultural transformations among the people. @GitaPress https://t.co/B9DmkE9AvS

  — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 18, 2023

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  I congratulate Gita Press, Gorakhpur on being conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize 2021. They have done commendable work over the last 100 years towards furthering social and cultural transformations among the people. @GitaPress https://t.co/B9DmkE9AvS

  — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 18, 2023