Litterateur draws flak for remarks on PM

The BJP has criticised critic and president of Marathi literature conference ‘Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Samelan’ Dr Shripal Sabnis for his critical statements against Prime minister Narendra Modi. Dr Sabnis had stated that the country would have had to pay homage to Mr Modi if he had been attacked in Pakistan. Meanwhile, Dr Sabnis said his statement was misinterpreted.

Mr Sabnis on Friday courted controversy by calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi by his name, evoking his past and referring to his “bravery” during his recent surprise visit to Pakistan. He compared Modi’s stint as Gujarat chief minister and as the PM when he delivered a lecture at a students’ literary meet in Pimpri near Pune.

“Modi is roaming around the world citing Gandhi and Buddha. He has made an alliance of 34 countries against the terrorism of Islamic State. Isn’t such a person a nationalist ” Dr Sabnis said.

Further commenting on Modi’s Pakistan visit, he said, “The RSS pracharak went to Pakistan on Mr Sharif’s birthday. It was a sign of invited death. Anything could have taken place there. It is the place of Hafeez Saeed and Dawood Ibrahim. Any bullet or bomb would have eliminated Mr Modi in one day and we would have paid homage to Mr Modi before we did to (poet) Mangesh Padgaonkar,” Mr Sabnis said.

He later clarified that he was actually praising Modi for his dashing move. “I am a supporter of India’s PM not of a RSS pracharak. The Muslim countries are well versed with the RSS’ anti-Muslim ideologies and still they welcomed Mr Modi with warm hearts. This is what I wanted to highlight. The media twisted my statement. They should understand that every story has a third side,” Mr Sabnis said.

Maharashtra BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari slammed Mr Sabnis for his comments on Mr Modi. “I expect the president of literary meet to speak on literature not on politics. If I speak on literature the people will know his contribution to the literature,” Mr Bhandari said.