Agencies
NEW DELHI, Oct 2: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his op-ed in New York Times.
She said that he invoked Mahatma Gandhi's teachings on the world stage but "eulogised his assassin back home."
Retweeting PM Modi's opinion piece published in the New York Times on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on Wednesday, Mehbooba Mufti said, "Strange. You invoke Bapu on the world stage but eulogise his assassin back home."
Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948. Godse had joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Sangli (Maharashtra) in 1932 as a boudhik karyawah (ground worker), and simultaneously remained a member of the Hindu Mahasabha, both right-wing organizations.
In the oped in The New York Times under the headline "Why India and the World need Gandhi", PM Modi wrote, "He [Mahatma Gandhi] had the unique ability to become a bridge between some of the greatest contradictions in human society,"
"He [Mahatma Gandhi] envisioned Indian nationalism as one that was never narrow or exclusive but one that worked for the service of humanity...Mahatma Gandhi also epitomized trust among all sections of society," PM Modi wrote.
PM Modi had also extolled the preachings of Gandhi at the United Nations this month. He said that Gandhi's vision, teachings and social reforms were even relevant in contemporary times.
Mehbooba Mufti, in response to PM Modi's frequent praise of Gandhi, took a dig at him via a tweet.
Mehbooba Mufti is currently under house arrest in Jammu and Kashmir since August 5.
Although the Jammu and Kashmir administration ended the house arrest of almost all political leaders from Jammu on Wednesday, many prominent leaders including Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah are currently under house arrest since the lockdown was imposed in the state earlier in August after the abrogation of Article 370.
The Centre's decision to put leaders locked inside the house had come when it was about to strike off the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and split the state into two union territories.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration and many prominent leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party have defended the move to put such leaders under preventive detention and said the action was taken to prevent any untoward incident after the scrapping of Article 370. |
