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Day after calling Indira Gandhi ‘Mother of India’, Union minister Suresh Gopi issues clarification
He, however, also called Indira Gandhi as the "real architect" of India post-independence.
Union minister Suresh Gopi on Sunday issued a clarification over his reference to former prime minister Indira Gandhi as the “mother of India”, reported PTI.
After his remarks garnered widespread attention, Gopi, the Bharatiya Janata Party's first Lok Sabha MP from Kerala, clarified that he called the late leader the mother of the Congress party in the country. He also claimed that the media misinterpreted his remarks.
"What did I say? As far as the Congress is concerned...whether anyone likes it or not... K Karunakaran is the father of the Congress party in Kerala. In India, its mother is Indira Gandhi. I said this from my heart," Suresh Gopi said, according to PTI.
However, the minister of state for petroleum and tourism continued to lavish praise on Indira Gandhi.
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"Indira Gandhi is the real architect of India post-independence and until her demise. I have to make these attributions anyway. I cannot forget a person who had worked sincerely for the country only because she belonged to the political rival party," he added.
On Saturday, while visiting the memorial of late Congress chief minister K Karunakaran in Thrissur, Gopi had described Indira Gandhi as the "mother of India" and Karunakaran as a "courageous administrator".
Gopi said as he viewed Indira Gandhi as "bharathathinte mathavu" (mother of India), and that Karunakaran was the "father of the Congress party in the state" for him.
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He, however, clarified that bestowing such a title to Karunakaran was not a disrespect to the founders or co-founders of Congress in Kerala. The BJP leader had also said that he considered Karunakaran and Marxist veteran E K Nayanar his "political gurus".
Gopi won the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat recently, opening the BJP's electoral account in Kerala. He defeated the Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate VS Sunilkumar by a margin of nearly 75,000 votes.
