The BJP and Opposition parties indulged in a slugfest, with a row erupting over the government conferring the Gandhi Peace Prize on the Gita Press. As the BJP fielded some of its senior ministers to counter criticism from the Opposition, both party president J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah took to Twitter to congratulate the publishing house for Hindu religious texts.
Nadda said that Gita Press’s contribution to the “preservation and progress” of India’s Sanatan culture is “commendable”. Shah said that Gita Press has been “doing a wonderful job” of taking holy books like Ramcharit Manas and Bhagwad Gita to the masses.
The party fielded senior leaders including union ministers Jitendra Singh and Meenakshi Lekhi, as well as Rajya Sabha member Ravi Shankar Prasad to counter the Opposition.
RJD’s Manoj Jha said that the “social and cultural transformation” they have brought is questionable. “The Gita Press is not under question for its work, but why associate them with the name of the Mahatma. If the government is keen to promote Gita Press, they could’ve given them any amount of money. The BJP is fundamentally anti-Hindu,” Jha said.
Responding to the Opposition’s attack, Union Minister of State, PMO, Jitendra Singh on Monday said that the publishing house is associated with the culture of India and Hindu beliefs. “It produces affordable literature for Hindus, and those people who say that the Muslim League was secular, are now accusing it of being communal,” Singh said.
Union culture minister Meenakshi Lekhi, responding to Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh’s tweet that it is akin to “awarding Savarkar and Godse”, said that the Congress under a wrong influence was opposing the move. “By opposing his name Congress is denying the core values of inclusive society. British considered these acts seditious & such acts of expression by Hindus are opposed by the likes of PFI in modern India,” Lekhi tweeted.
Mahatma Gandhi’s great grandson Tushar Gandhi, too, took to Twitter to criticise the move. “Gandhi Peace Prize to Gita Press, my compliments to the selection committee they have proven they have an admirable sense of humour. Even Bapu would have had a hearty laugh,” his tweet read.
Prasad went as far as to say that Congress has a Maoist ideology. “A party that governed the country now has people with a Maoist mindset. Their position should be opposed by the entire country,” Prasad said.