Criticism from Congress over PM Modi’s remarks on Mahatma Gandhi’s global recognition

Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced criticism from the Congress party after his recent remarks about Mahatma Gandhi during an interview with news channel ABP. Modi claimed that the world did not know about Mahatma Gandhi until the 1982 movie ‘Gandhi’ was made by Richard Attenborough.

During the interview, Modi stated, “Mahatma Gandhi was a great soul in the world. In these 75 years, was it not our responsibility to inform the world about Mahatma Gandhi? No one knew about him. Forgive me, but the first time there was curiosity about him in the world was when the film ‘Gandhi’ was made. We did not do it.”

He further added that if the world was aware of leaders like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, then Gandhi was no less than them. The video clip of this interview went viral on social media, prompting a response from the Congress party.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticized the Prime Minister for his remarks, accusing him of “destroying the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi.” Ramesh stated, “It seems the outgoing prime minister lives in a world where Mahatma Gandhi was not recognized worldwide before 1982. If anyone has destroyed the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, it is the outgoing prime minister himself.”

Ramesh also highlighted the importance of understanding Mahatma Gandhi’s nationalism and criticized the RSS ideology for creating an environment that led to Gandhi’s assassination by Nathuram Godse. He claimed that the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024 will be a fight between the devotees of Mahatma Gandhi and the devotees of Godse, with the defeat of the outgoing Prime Minister and his colleagues who support Godse being certain.

The controversy surrounding Modi’s remarks on Mahatma Gandhi has sparked a debate on the legacy of the iconic leader and the responsibility of the nation to promote his teachings and principles on a global scale.