Modi’s faux pas on Gandhi creates flutter

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, May 29

PM Narendra Modi’s remark that world did not know Mahatma Gandhi before British director Richard Attenborough made a movie on him in 1982 created a flutter on Wednesday with Opposition politicians slamming the Prime Minister for the comment.

In an interview with a TV channel, PM Modi asked whether it was not the country’s job to secure Mahatma Gandhi’s high global recognition in the last 75 years.

What he said

The first time film “Gandhi” was made in 1982, the world got curious about who he might be. We didn’t do the needful…. The world knew about Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, and Gandhi was no less than them. —Narendra Modi, PM

Cong reacts

Only a student of entire political science would have felt the need to see a film to know about Mahatma Gandhi. —Rahul Gandhi, Cong leader

“Mahatma Gandhi was a great soul. Wasn’t it our responsibility to get him that level of global recognition over the last 75 years? Nobody knew, please forgive me on this. The first time film “Gandhi” was made in 1982, the world got curious about who he might be. We didn’t do the needful…. The world knew about Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, and Gandhi was no less than them. I am saying this after travelling the world that Gandhi and through him, India should have been recognised,” PM Modi said in response to a question.

“I don’t know in which world the outgoing Prime Minister lives where Mahatma Gandhi was unknown across the world before 1982,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted on X.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha member Mahua Moitra posted on her X handle footage of Modi’s comment and wrote, “Nobody knew Gandhi.” Posting footages of Einstein, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and other international figures talking about Gandhi, the Congress unit of Kerala questioned PM Modi’s knowledge on the “nation’s history”.

PM Modi has been criticised for his tendency to repeatedly claim that India started its journey toward becoming a modern state only after he became the PM for the first time in 2014.