‘Request Modi to read Gandhi’s autobiography’: Kharge on PM’s ‘world came to know about Gandhi after film’ remark

"You don't get this knowledge just by sitting at the Vivekananda site or taking a dip in the Ganga. You have to read about it," Kharge said

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge (PTI Photo)

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge Thursday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks on Mahatama Gandhi, saying that he should read the freedom fighter’s autobiography once he’s free from election results.

‘”Yesterday, PM Modi said that the world got to know about Mahatma Gandhi after watching Richard Attenborough’s film. I find it amusing. For a PM to say that the world was introduced to Gandhi after watching a film… is it ignorance or did he not study about Gandhi? In our times, we had texts in school, and if he would have read them, he would not have said anything like this. The whole world knows about Mahatma Gandhi. There are statues in front of UNO (United Nation Office). Many leaders praise Mahatma Gandhi… at least 70-80 countries have statues of him. Countries that have gained independence through non-violence, they all know about Mahatama Gandhi,” Kharge said at a press conference.

On Wednesday, in an interview with news channel ABP, PM Modi said, “No one knew about Mahatma Gandhi. The first time the Gandhi film was made, there was curiosity about who he is. If the world knows about Martin Luther King, South Africa’s Nelson Mandela… Gandhi wasn’t any less than them. India should have garnered attention through the medium of Gandhi. Many of our world’s problems can be solved with Gandhi. We have a lost a lot ( of our heritage).”

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“Wasn’t it our responsibility in the last 75 years that the whole world gets to know about Mahatma Gandhi?” Modi had said.

“If Modi or anyone in BJP is ignorant, the least you can do is whenever you’re free after June 4, read his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, — which was a school text for us — and become Gandhian,” Kharge said, adding, “You don’t get this knowledge just by sitting at the Vivekananda site or taking a dip in the Ganga. You have to read about it.”

Kharge, on Thursday, said that he was “shocked” over the prime minister’s remarks. “It’s possible that he doesn’t know about Gandhi and what he has said, so i assume he doesn’t know about the Constitution either.

Today in the world, Gandhi’s name is taken when people talk about this country’s independence and nation building.

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