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BJP leader Vijay Goel compares PM Modi with Mahatma Gandhi
Delhi BJP leader Vijay Goel on Thursday put up a hoarding with pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mahatma Gandhi, whom he called the saints of Sabarmati.
Delhi BJP leader Vijay Goel on Thursday put up a hoarding with pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mahatma Gandhi, whom he called the saints of Sabarmati.
The move provoked a strong reaction from the opposition, which described the comparison of the two personalities as an act of sycophancy.
Goel, who stays across the BJP headquarters on Ashoka Road, put up a hoarding bearing images and stanzas eulogising Modi, along with the Mahatma a day ahead of the latter’s birth anniversary.
“De di duniya me pahchan nai, uncha kiya bhal, Sabarmati ke sant tune kar diya kamal,” said the hoarding, describing Modi. The lines are a play on a song from the 1954 movie ‘Jagriti’. “De di hame azadi bina
kharag bina dhal, Sabarmati ke sant tune kar diya kamal,” are the original lines, and they have been used to describe Gandhi in the banner as well.
Goel defended the poster, saying while Gandhi liberated India, Modi freed people from corruption and poverty. “I am not comparing the personalities. They are saints in their own rights,” he said.
But Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed tweeted, “BJP’s Vijay Goel compares Mahatma Gandhi with PM. This is sycophancy at its worst. Even a self-obsessed man like Mr Modi may feel embarrassed.”
