GUWAHATI, June 11 – Congress members today staged a three-hour sit-in demonstration on the Rajiv Bhawan campus here in protest against the insalubrious comment of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi. The BJP president had reportedly described the Mahatma a ‘shrewd trader’ while addressing a party meeting at Raipur yesterday.
The participants of the demonstration demanded unconditional apology from the BJP president for this comment of his.

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), which organised the protest demonstration in association with the Guwahati Metro District Congress Committee, described the comment of the BJP chief as a reflection of the ignorance of the saffron party about Gandhiji and the freedom struggle of the country. Shah’s reported comment on the Mahatma is also an affront on the people of the country, their civilisation and culture.

It pointed out to the fact that to win the hearts of the people, the BJP, after coming to power at the Centre in 2014, had declared the ideals of the Mahatma as the ideals for a ‘clean India.’ The symbol of the Mahatma’s spectacle is made the symbol of the clean India propounded by the BJP after its 2014 electoral victory.

In other parts of the world, people have chosen the path of non-violence enunciated by the Mahatma as their path for combating terrorism.

Leaders of the stature of Nelson Mandela had adhered to the ideals of non-violence to bring an end to the racial discrimination of the apartheid era, while former American President Barak Obama also stuck to the Mahatma’s ideals of non-violence, said the APCC.

Leader of Opposition: Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Debabrata Saikia has also said that he is outraged at the unsavoury comment made by the BJP chief on the Mahatma.

“The BJP has started revealing its true colours now. It has not remained content with targeting the opposition and non-compliant media for its verbal attack and punitive measures. It has now targeted the Mahatma to lower his image in line with the agenda of the RSS,” said Saikia.

Source Assam Tribune