BJP Serves Show Cause Notice To Anantkumar Hegde For Controversial Remarks On Mahatma Gandhi

The BJP issued a show cause notice to its MP Anantkumar Hegde on Monday for his comments against Mahatma Gandhi, the party's Karnataka state president Nalin Kumar Kateel said. Kateel told PTI that the party's central leadership has served the notice to Hegde, taking strong objections to his remarks targeting Gandhi and seeking an explanation from him. According to reports, BJP top leadership has asked Hegde to issue an unconditional apology. In controversial comments, Hegde questioned the freedom movement led by Gandhi and described it as an "adjustment" with the British rulers. 

"None of these so-called leaders were beaten up by the cops even once. Their independence movement was one big drama. It was staged by these leaders with the approval of the British. It was not a genuine fight. It was an adjustment freedom struggle," news agency ANI quoted Hegde as saying.

Terming Mahatma Gandhi's hunger strikes and satyagraha a 'drama', Hegde said: "People supporting Congress keep saying that India got independence because of the fast unto death and satyagraha. This is not true. The British did not leave the country because of satyagraha."

Congress Hits Out At BJP

Meanwhile, the Congress hit out at the ruling BJP over Hegde's remarks saying a sedition case should be slapped against the former Union minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi must apologise for it. The opposition party demanded that the prime minister must come to Parliament and clarify his position on Hegde's "objectionable" remarks, and asserted that it was time for Modi to prove whether his loyalty was towards Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse or the Father of the Nation.

"They are disparaging the national movement. If the prime minister and the BJP government are sincere about the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi, we demand that the PM comes to Parliament and clarifies his position," Congress's senior spokesperson Anand Sharma told a press conference.

"They are desperate for elections and only to get some votes, they are inflicting deep wounds on the soul of India," he said.

(With PTI Inputs)