Saffron party on path to development or polarisation?

New Delhi: The ruling BJP has asked its MP Anantkumar Hegde to put out an unconditional apology for his remarks describing the freedom struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi as "staged drama".

The former Union Minister from Karnataka had made several derogatory comments on Gandhi's role at a public meeting on the weekend and commented that his "blood boiled" that "such people came to be called Mahatma".

Late on Monday evening, BJP had served a show-cause notice to Hegde for insulting Bapu.

The entire freedom movement was "staged with the consent and support of the British", Hegde had said on Saturday at a public event in Bengaluru.

"None of these so-called leaders were beaten up by the cops even once. Their independence movement was one big drama.

It was staged by these leaders with the approval of the British. It was not a genuine fight. It was an adjustment freedom struggle," the six-time MP had said.

"People supporting Congress keep saying that India got independence because of the fast unto death and satyagraha. This is not true. The British did not leave the country because of satyagraha. Britishers gave independence out of frustration.

My blood boils when I read history. Such people become Mahatma in our country," he had railed. The MP from Uttara Kannada, a minister in the previous government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was dropped when the BJP was re-elected to power last year.

Union Minister Ashwani Choubey said Hegde "should not have made the comment", that Gandhi is a well-respected figure in the nation.

Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Tushar Gandhi tweeted: "Hegde is correct in saying Bapu's Freedom Fight was a drama. It was so intense that it opened the eyes of the British to their immoral colonisation and enslavement of India."

"They are disparaging the national movement. If PM and the BJP government are sincere about 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi, we demand that PM comes to Parliament and clarifies his position," Congress senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said.

"Mahatma Gandhi does not need a certificate from cadre of Britishers ''chamchas and spies''," Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said in a tweet: "It is high time the BJP is renamed ''Nathuram Godse Party and a sedition case should be slapped against the BJP MP, he added

Undeterred by the outrage and election body notice over a BJP MP calling Arvind Kejriwal a "terrorist", Union Minister Prakash Javadekar repeated the comment campaigning entered the last phase ahead of the February 8 Delhi election.

"There is a reason voters of Delhi have turned away from Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal makes an innocent face and asks - 'am I a terrorist?' You are a terrorist, there is plenty of proof. You had yourself said you are an anarchist; there is not much difference between an anarchist and terrorist," Javadekar said.

BJP MP Parvesh Verma was the first to use the term for the Delhi Chief Minister on January 25, on the campaign trail. He had implied that if Kejriwal's AAP returned to power, then "Shaheen Bagh-type" of people will take over the streets.

Shaheen Bagh in south Delhi is among the most prominent sites of protests against the citizenship law CAA that critics say discriminates against Muslims.

Verma, banned by the Election Commission from campaigning for spewing hate ahead of Delhi elections, referred to former PM Rajiv Gandhi as 'Rajiv Feroze Khan' in the Parliament on Monday.

Verma sought to propagate the lie that Indira Gandhi had married a Muslim, and hence, the Gandhi family is Muslim, but is hiding its religion.

The historical distortion that Indira Gandhi married a Muslim named Feroze Khan, converted to Islam and took on a Muslim name, but was then induced by her father (Jawaharlal Nehru) to change her name to Gandhi, has often been alleged by various BJP members.

To set the record straight: Indira Nehru had married Feroze Gandhi, who was from a Parsi-Zoroastrian family from Allahabad.

The BJP lawmaker's wrongful assertion comes amid BJP's communally charged campaign for the Delhi elections, in which the party has sought to expand Hindu-Muslim faultlines by dubbing the predominantly Muslim anti-CAA protesters at Shaheen Bagh as "pro-Pakistan, anti-India and traitors".

Opposition members, including those from the Congress, had walked out of Lok Sabha when Verma started to speak. He started his speech by leading chants of 'Jai Shri Ram', saying that it washes off people's sins.

Goli kahan hai? Congress MPs protest against Thakur

The Congress raised slogans against Union minister Anurag Thakur in Lok Sabha over his controversial remarks during a recent election rally in the national capital.

While Opposition members, mainly from the Congress, were protesting against the amended citizenship law, they raised their pitch whenever Thakur started replying to questions. Thakur, who is the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, had made some controversial remarks during a recent poll rally in the national capital.

Belligerent Congress members, who were in the Well, shouted slogans against the minister and asked 'Aapka goli kaha hai? (where is your bullet?)', an apparent reference to the minister's controversial remarks. Some members also shouted 'Goli maarna band karo (Stop shooting)'.

Whenever Thakur was responding to supplementaries during the Question Hour, the members began sloganeering against him. During the election rally, Thakur had egged on the crowd to raise an incendiary slogan, "shoot the traitors", after he lashed out at anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) protestors.

The Election Commission had also banned him for three days from campaigning for the Delhi elections in the wake of his controversial remarks. The Lower House also witnessed incessant protests against the amended citizenship law, and proposed NRC (National Register of Citizens) and NPR (National Population Register).

In an attempt to turn around Verma's "Kejriwal is a terrorist" narrative, the AAP has reached out to families of four martyrs, who vouched for Delhi chief minister's patriotism in a video message.

In a three-minute-long clip, relatives of Delhi police officers, a firefighter and an assistant sub-inspector of police questioned how could Verma and Union home minister call AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal a terrorist when he is one who has been serving India selflessly.

Lauding Delhi government for giving "Rs 1 crore aid" to the kin of martyrs, the members said that their financial condition has improved after the monetary help. "Whatever worries we had after our son passed away, were taken care of by the government in the national capital," an elderly couple said.

Another relative said, "No government can think about how the life of such families could change by extending a helping hand." His statement is then seconded by kin of another martyr, who says that Kejriwal is a simple man who works selflessly for the people.

With his ambitious 'Mohalla clinic' model to provide better health services in every area of the national capital and improving classrooms in government schools, Kejriwal has impressed the people of the city ahead of the Assembly polls with 71 per cent happy with his performance, a NETA App Survey report claimed on Monday.

According to the survey findings, Kejriwal despite falling behind his Deputy Manish Sisodia and two other party MLAs, has impressed the people with his performance in education and development.

The Congress raised slogans against Union minister Anurag Thakur in Lok Sabha over his controversial remarks during a recent election rally in the national capital.

While Opposition members, mainly from the Congress, were protesting against the amended citizenship law, they raised their pitch whenever Thakur started replying to questions.

Thakur, who is the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, had made some controversial remarks during a recent poll rally in the national capital.

Belligerent Congress members, who were in the Well, shouted slogans against the minister and asked 'Aapka goli kaha hai? (where is your bullet?)', an apparent reference to the minister's controversial remarks.

Some members also shouted 'Goli maarna band karo (Stop shooting)'. Whenever Thakur was responding to supplementaries during the Question Hour, the members began sloganeering against him.

During the election rally, Thakur had egged on the crowd to raise an incendiary slogan, "shoot the traitors", after he lashed out at anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) protestors.

The Election Commission had also banned him for three days from campaigning for the Delhi elections in the wake of his controversial remarks.

The Lower House also witnessed incessant protests against the amended citizenship law, and proposed NRC (National Register of Citizens) and NPR (National Population Register).