Form of words:
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit issued a clarification on Monday, after a remark about Mahatma Gandhi sparked a controversy.
In a BJP program in Unnao on Saturday, Dikshit said, “Gandhi He used to see less clothes and used to say dhoti… Gandhi to live Bapu where did it go. Now if one becomes great by taking off his clothes then Rakhi Sawant Mahatma Gandhi becomes bigger than… (Gandhi Yes wore little clothes, he used to wear a dhoti… He was called Bapu. If people could become great just by taking off their clothes, Rakhi Sawant would have been a taller figure than Gandhi.”
Dixit, an MLA from Unnao’s Bhagwant Nagar seat, was addressing an “Enlightened People” event, a series of conventions organized by the BJP across the state, where assembly elections are due early next year.
A video of the remarks later went viral, drawing criticism from the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress, who said Dikshit’s remarks were an insult to Gandhi and women.
However, on Monday, Dixit said on Twitter that he was quoted out of context, adding that the viral clip is just a part of his speech.
Dixit said that he was introduced at the event as a “.Lord: (intellectual) author But I did not agree to it.
“Writing a few books and articles does not make one an intellectual. By the same token, I said that Mahatma Gandhi used to wear certain clothes. The country considers him as Bapu. This does not mean that Rakhi Sawant will become Gandhi.”
The next thing is how it is related. Mahatma Gandhi used to wear less clothes. The country called ‘Bapu’. This does not mean that Gandhi Sawant is also Gandhiji.
— Hriday Narayan Dixit (@Speaker_UPLA) September 19, 2021
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav was among those who tweeted the clip with the hashtag on Dikshit’s remarks at the Unnao event.false_ka_phool (Flower of lies)”, an alleged dig using the BJP’s party symbol.
#false_ka_flower pic.twitter.com/oIQl4RAZHq
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) September 20, 2021
SP MLC Sunil Sajan said that the speaker insulted not only Gandhi but also the women by commenting on his attire. This is an insult to every girl in the country. We all know he doesn’t like Gandhi’s ideology, but he should apologize for his comments.”
UP Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said in a statement that BJP and RSS leaders have a ‘habit of disrespecting Mahatma Gandhi’.
“They love Savarkar and hate Gandhi, it is known to all. Even before this, their leaders have made such comments about Bapu. The speaker should publicly apologize for his views.”
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
Read also: Six Months After Celebrating 4 Years, BJP Plans Another For 4.5 Years of Yogi Sarkar across UP
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