New Delhi: Congress general secretary KC Venugopal on Sunday condemned Union Guriraj Singh over his praise of Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse, saying that celebrating or glorifying the person who killed the Father of the Nation is nothing short of an "anti-national act".
His remark was in response to the Union minister calling Godse a "sapoot" (son of the soil).
Taking to his official Twitter handle, the Congress leader posted, "Mahatma Gandhi is the Father of the Nation. Celebrating his killer is an anti-national act. But if you're in the BJP, celebrating Godse is a badge of honour."
He tweeted further that the recent remarks by Union Minister Giriraj Singh and former Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat only go to show the "mindset' of the party that they represent.
"The PM's silence tells you he approves of their every word," tweeted Venugopal.
Earlier, on Saturday, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal also came up with a scathing response to the Union minister's remark.
"Was Godse a good son as Giriraj Singh put it? The RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of the BJP) had offered help to the British rulers (during the freedom struggle). How can they acknowledge the contributions of Mahatma Gandhi? Their mindset is in conflict with the ideals and principles of Mahatma Gandhi" said Sibal.
Giriraj had reportedly said that the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi "was not an invader like Mughal rulers Babar and Aurangzeb, as he was born in India".
The Union Minister's remark came in response to AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who invoked Godse while replying to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's "Aurangzeb" jibe while speaking about the violence in Kohlapur. —ANI
