IAS officer's anti-Gandhi tweet sparks row

Mumbai: A Mumbai woman IAS officer's tweet virtually making a call to erase Mahatma Gandhi from everywhere in the world, including Indian currency notes, sparked a controversy on Saturday, forcing her to backtrack on the earlier comments.

Nidhi Choudhari, currently Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Special) in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), wrote the tweets on May 17.

They have since been deleted. "What an exceptional celebration of 150th birth anniversary year is going on... High time, we removed his face from our currency, his statues from across the world, rename institutions/roads named after him! That would be a real tribute to all of us! ThankU #Godse for 30.01.1948."

Terming the IAS officer's tweets as "derogatory to Mahatma Gandhi", Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator Jitendra Awhad demanded that she should be immediately suspended for glorifying Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Gandhi.

Under fire from various quarters, Choudhari said on Friday she had deleted her controversial tweet. "I have deleted my tweet of 17.05.2019 w.r.t. Gandhiji because some people misunderstood it.

If only they had followed my timeline since 2011, they would've understood that I would NEVER even dream of insulting Gandhiji. I bow before him with deepest regard and will do so till last breath," she tweeted.

On Friday, Choudhari posted a tweet on new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, but without directly taking her name: "A proud moment.

Women are best at managing budgets... hope Indian economy achieves greater heights under her leadership." Adding in a lighter vein, Choudhari also demanded that Goods and Services Tax (GST) on sanitary napkins, garments and beauty services would be reduced and said, "I would want it to be zero."