New Delhi: The Congress on Friday demanded that Prime Minister Modi expel former Uttarakhand Chief Minister TS Rawat from BJP for stating that Mahatma Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse was a patriot. “The PM must expel TS Rawat from the BJP for saying that Godse was a patriot. That will send a strong message among the people and in his party. If the PM fails to do that, he would have no right to pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi when he goes abroad,” Congress spokesperson Vaibhav Walia said.
“This is not the first time that such statements have been made targeting Gandhi. This issue of praising Godse must be settled once and for all. The PM should convey a message that those praising Godse will not be tolerated. There should be no drama around it,” he said. The Congress leader pointed out how the PM pays tributes to the Father of the Nation, both within the country and abroad, but the BJP leaders deride Mahatma Gandhi in public.
“In 2019, the PM had said during an interview that he won’t be able to pardon BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur after she had praised Godse as a patriot. Had the PM taken any action against her, TS Rawat would not have made that controversial statement a few days ago in Ballia. Also, no other BJP leader would have dared to praise Godse. Amit Shah said that Gandhi was a great freedom fighter but also a clever businessman. Haryana minister Anil Vij said Khadi had come down as Gandhi’s name was associated with it and so had the Indian Rupee, which carries a picture of Gandhi. Praising Godse is not only an insult to Mahatma Gandhi, but it is also an insult to the entire nation,” said Walia.
The Congress leader further said that while Mahatma Gandhi was the fountainhead of the grand old party’s ideology, Godse represented the politics of hate. “There is a battle going on within the country between the "politics of hate" and the "politics of love". Our leader Rahul Gandhi, too, recently said in the US that the fight between the ideologies represented by Mahatma Gandhi and Godse was on in India. I did not know that BJP leader TS Rawat would prove Rahul Gandhi right so soon,” said Walia.
The Congress leader said that the Congress in comparison was keen to open shops of love in the country, which meant communal harmony, jobs for the youth, and social security. According to the Congress leader, during his court trial for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi on Jan 30, 1948, Godse had said that the Father of the Nation had been bothering him over the past 32 years.
“If you see what Mahatma Gandhi did in the 32 years before his assassination, you would find that he had played a role in the Champaran Satyagraha, civil disobedience movement, Quit India movement, launched magazines and newspapers, started work against untouchability, worked for Sarvodaya and awakened people politically. Freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose called him Bapu lovingly and Rabindra Nath Tagore called him Mahatma,” reminded Walia.
