Hyderabad speech: Narendra Modi gaffes have all squirm DC CORRESPONDENT | April 23, 2014, 09.04 am IST Hyderabad: That the BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi’s grasp of historical events is a little weak was proved once again during his speech in Hyderabad on Tuesday. He referred to the deaths in Telangana of 1,100 youths as being the result of police firing, which was not true. “Who killed 1,100 innocent youth? Who opened fire and pumped bullets?” Mr Modi roared. The deaths were in fact self-immolations and suicides. No opposition party, including the TRS, has ever alleged that the men were killed in police firing. He made another gaffe when he referred to the late Congress CM T Anjaiah as a Dalit. T Anjaiah belongs to the Reddy caste. Mr Modi was reminding his audience of the episode at Begumpet airport in 1981 when the then Congress general-secretary Rajiv Gandhi had insulted T Anjaiah. Last year, at a rally in Dudu, Rajasthan, Mr Modi had called Mahatma Gandhi Mohanlal Karamchand Gandhi instead of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. “Towards the end of his life, Mahatma Gandhi had a wish which was not fulfilled. Would you fulfil that wish? Would you fulfil Gandhi’s wish? Mohanlal Karamchand Gandhi” he said. He may be excused for not being well clued on Gandhiji or his wishes, but getting mixed up between Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerji and revolutionary Shyamaji Krishna Verma is inexcusable. “Shyama Prasad Mookerji was a revolutionist. He died in 1930. His last wish was that his ashes be brought to India after independence. The Congress governments didn’t get them back. It was I who got the ashes back to India in 2003,” Mr Modi declared. One ought surely to know the name of the man for whom one claims to have done such a signal service. Recently, Mr Modi’s statement seeking a debate on Article 370 of the Constitution giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir stirred a hornet’s nest, as it transpired that he may actually have been referring to the state’s property rights.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 04:54:22 +0000
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