Hegde’s remark sparks protests in Parliament
Cong calls it an ‘insult’ to Gandhi, BJP says Hegde asked to apologise
NEW DELHI: THE Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday sought to block an effort by the Congress to corner the ruling coalition over controversial remarks made by its lawmaker, Anantkumar Hegde, with a denial and a counter-offensive.
Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi told the Lok Sabha that Hegde has denied making any critical comment about Mahatma Gandhi but has still been asked to express regret. Joshi was responding to a fierce attack on Hegde and the ruling BJP by Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
To be sure, while Hegde is not heard naming Gandhi in his comments, made in Kannada during a speech at a function on Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s political relevance in Bengaluru on Saturday, his comments are aimed at the leaders of the non-violent freedom movement (as opposed to those who took the other path).
The MP, no stranger to controversies, said none of these “leaders” were ever beaten up by the police and that their movement was “staged with the consent and support of the British”.
He said this “was not a genuine fight but an adjustment”.
Some of the phrases used by Chowdhury in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday to describe the BJP and its lawmaker’s reported comments were themselves expunged because they were deemed unparliamentary.
The uproar in the Lok Sabha caused Speaker Om Birla to adjourn proceedings for an hour, perhaps the first time in the 17th Lok Sabha that he has adjourned the House without starting the Question Hour.
Joshi recalled that all BJP lawmakers went on a 150km padyatra to mark the 150th birth centenary of Mahatma Gandhi. He said that while Hegde has clarified his position, “we still asked him to express regret because we, the people of the Bharatiya Janata Party, are the true followers of Mahatma Gandhi unlike the Congress members who are the followers of fake Gandhis like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.”
Joshi’s comments caused another uproar, following which the Congress members walked out.
Earlier in the day, in his reply to the showcase notice issued to him by the BJP, Hegde said he has never said anything against the Father of the Nation.
“All related media reports are false. I never said what is being debated over. It is an unnecessary controversy. I own my statement made on February 1, 2020, in Bengaluru. I never made any reference to any political party or Mahatma Gandhi or anybody else, I was just trying to categorise freedom struggle. That’s all,” Hegde was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Hegde, a five-time lawmaker from Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada, is known for his controversial statements. In May, he deleted a series of tweets in which he appeared to support freedom of expression of those wanting to have a debate on Gandhi’s assassin, Nathuram Godse.
In December, Hegde embarrassed the BJP by claiming the rushed swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra chief minister in November was a preplanned and temporary move to ensure that funds worth ~40,000 crore were returned to the Centre. Fadnavis immediately denied the claim.
Hegde was booked for hate speech in 2016 after he said that as long as Islam exists, terrorism will exist.
In his reply to the show-cause notice issued to him by the BJP, Hegde said he didn’t mention Gandhi or the Quit India movement. The former Union minister clarified that he only mentioned that non-cooperation was not the only reason for gaining independence.
Hegde said he meant to say that many other people sit on “andolan (agitation)” and become Mahatmas, but was not referring to Gandhi.