Criticising those “glorifying” Nathuram Godse, Mahatma Gandhi’s great grandson Tushar Gandhi has said people who know little about the Mahatma’s assassin were using him as a “tool” to build an image.
“People used Bapu as a means for their publicity. Now don’t use Godse for it...First understand Godse. How much do the people who are praising Godse know about him? Are they using Godse as a ladder to build a certain image,” he told PTI .
Asked about attempts by a right wing Hindu organisation of Uttar Pradesh to build a temple dedicated to Godse, 55-year- old Mr. Tushar said, “The society has room for all thoughts. Like we believe in Bapu and his idealogy of non-violence, the others who have faith in hatred and enmity too have the freedom to do so. The society should be left to choose the principles it wants to follow.”
To a query on BJP MP from Unnao Sakshi Maharaj describing Godse as a patriot but later withdrawing his remark after protests, Mr. Tushar said, “I am happy that the ruling party people are speaking and praising Godse publicly as it is better than doing it in a hush-hush manner. This gives us an opportunity to protest such kind of tendency.”
Asked if parties that have reaped the benefit of Bapu’s name and enjoyed power for long should come out more strongly in his defence, Mr. Tushar, without naming any political party said, “We should understand that the opportunists never work for righteousness. Opportunists take advantage of a situation.”
Mr. Tushar, however, lauded the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) kicked off on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said, “The concept of the mission was good. But the mission is in incomplete shape.”
He said that besides motivating people to clean their surroundings, “we should create awareness against littering, so that it is considered a “sin” by the society.
On whether he felt politicians were using the mission to promote themselves, he said that if politicians take the broom “only for photographs”, such practice will ruin the programme.
