Warning against 'Taliban' tendencies, Anand Mahindra praises Mahatma Gandhi

Mumbai: With some BJP leaders getting censured for speaking in favour of Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, an industry leader warned of the perils of such statements.

Chairman of the Mahindra Group Anand Mahindra, took to twitter on Friday early morning about the importance of Mahatma Gandhi in history of modern India.

Mahindra said that India had been “the land of the Mahatma, a beacon when the world lost its morality”. Mahindra said Gandhi had inspired billions globally and “some things must remain sacred”. Mahindra referred to the destruction of Afghanistan's historic Bamiyan Buddha statues by the erstwhile Taliban regime in 2001 to warn against “destroying statues that sustain us.”

BJP candidate for Bhopal, Pragya Singh Thakur, said Godse was a patriot creating a controversy on Thursday. She was answering to a question from a reporter about actor-politician Kamal Haasan's claim that Godse was a Hindu terrorist. After a widespread criticism, including from the BJP, Pragya apologised for her comments.

Karnataka MPs Nalinkumar Kateel and Anantkumar Hegde also tweeted about Godse. The two deleted their posts subsequently. Kateel had tweeted, “Godse killed one, Kasab killed 72, Rajiv Gandhi killed 17,000” asking people to judge who was more cruel. Hegde welcomed the “debate” on Godse in his tweet. My Twitter account had been hacked, he claimed.

BJP President Amit Shah took to twitter on Friday and said these utterances by Pragya, Kateel and Hegde were in their “personal capacity”. The BJP had sought explanations from the three within 10 days, he added.