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‘Just categorised freedom struggle, did not mention Gandhi’: Anantkumar Hegde
The former Union minister created a controversy on Saturday during an event in Bengaluru when he said that the freedom movement led by Mahatma Gandhi was a “drama”.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Anantkumar Hegde on Tuesday played down the controversy surrounding his comments on Mahatma Gandhi and said he was only trying to “categorise freedom struggle”.
The former Union minister created a controversy on Saturday during an event in Bengaluru when he said that the freedom movement led by Mahatma Gandhi was a “drama”.
Hegde said the speech is available on the world wide web and also on his website.
Clarifying his statement, the MP told ANI, “I own my statement made on 1 Feb, 2020. I never made any reference to any political party or Mahatma Gandhi or anybody else, I was just trying to categorise freedom struggle.
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The BJP leader dismissed all reports about his statement as false and blamed media for the “unnecessary controversy”.
On Monday, Karnataka BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel said the party has sought an explanation from Hegde on remarks made against Gandhi and the freedom movement.
The BJP said it does not approve of Anantkumar Hegde’s comments and that the issue will be referred to a disciplinary committee.
The six-time Lok Sabha member’s remark came in for severe criticism from the opposition parties, including Congress which asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make his stand clear on Hegde’s comments.
This is not the first time that Anantkumar Hegde has been at the centre of a controversy.
He had labelled former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer S Senthil as a traitor and asked him to “go to Pakistan”. He had also called Congress’ Karnataka unit president Dinesh Gundu Rao as somebody who “went after a Muslim lady”.
