AMIT SHAH CALLS MAHATMA GANDHI A ‘CHATUR BANIYA’
BJP president Amit Shah has called Mahatma Gandhi a ‘chatur baniya’, drawing criticism from the Congress that said it was an insult to the father of the nation and the freedom movement. The word Baniya, a caste of traders and merchants, is often used pejoratively to suggest a trait of shrewdness. The Congress is not a party born out of ideology or principle, Shah added.
RAIPUR: BJP chief Amit Shah dubbed Mahatma Gandhi as a “chatur baniya”, a reference to his mercantile caste, sparking a political row with the Congress and other opposition parties demanding an apology from him.
The word baniya, a caste of traders and merchants, is often used pejoratively to suggest a trait of shrewdness.
The Congress is not a party born out of ideology or principle. It was a tool for independence,” Shah said on Friday.
“Aur isi liye Mahatma Gandhi ne durandesi ke saath, bahut chatur baniya tha woh, usko maloom tha aage kya hone waala hai, usne azadi ke baad turant kaha tha, Congress ko bikher dena chahiye (and this is why Mahatma Gandhi with much foresight, and he was like a clever Baniya who knew what was to come , suggested after independence the Congress be disbanded),” he said.
“Rather than fighting casteism, they (BJP) identified even the Father of the Nation with his caste. This shows the character and ideology of the ruling party and its president,” party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.
“We demand that Amit Shah, and PM Narendra Modi apologise to the country, the families of freedom fighters and every citizen for insulting the freedom movement... and the Father of the Nation,” he said.
The Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan equated Shah to the Pakistani leaders who used to criticise Gandhi. Terming Shah’s remarks “unethical and unfortunate”, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, too, suggested he withdraws the comments. “Gandhi is the Father of the Nation and he is an icon. We cannot use such unjustified language about him. It is unethical, unfortunate and uncalled for,” Banerjee said. Bihar’s JD-U, too, slammed Shah over his remark. Though the party spokesperson, Neeraj Kumar, criticised the comment, CM Nitish Kumar refused to say anything on this issue.
Gandhi laughed at cartoons of himself. He would have chuckled at the “chatur baniya” description, but for its “utter tastelessness” and the hidden mischief in it, Mahatma’s grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi said on Saturday.
Another grandson, Rajmohan Gandhi said, “The man who overcame the British lion and snakes of communal poison in India was more than a chatur bania. Today — unlike men like Amit Shah — he would aim to defeat the forces that hunt the innocent and the vulnerable,” Gandhi, a biographer and a research professor at University of Illinois, US, said.